daily

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdeɪ.li/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English day + -ly,^[2][3] and Middle English dayly continues inherited from Old English dæġlīc,^[4][5] found only in compounds such as twādæġlīc “happening once in two days”.^[2][5] It is cognate with German täglich and Old Norse dagligr.^[5][2] The usual Old English word for “daily” was dæġhwāmlīc, which survived as daiwhamlich into the 1200s.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective: 1421, as daly, with dayly from 1423 and daily from 1447,^[5] or the mid-15th century.^[2] The adverb is from the early 15th century^[2] or about 1440.^[6]

Semantic evolution

A daily newspaper is a daily from 1823, originally in the United States,^[6] or by 1832.^[2][7] Daily bread, livelihood, is from 1906, and a cleaner who comes in every day but does not live in is a daily from 1933.^[6] In the cinema, dailies are the first prints of a day's filming, from 1934.^[6][8] Daily dozen, a set of daily exercises, is from the early 20th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1421 – daly.^[5]
• c. 1440 – adverb.^[6]
• 1447 – the spelling daily.^[5]
• 1823 – a daily newspaper.^[6]
• 1933 – a daily cleaner.^[6]
• 1934 – dailies, film rushes.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Happening or done every day.
2. Calculated for each day: a daily rate.
3. Of everyday life; ordinary.

Adverb

1. Every day; once a day.

Noun

1. A newspaper published every day or every weekday.
2. (British) A cleaner who comes daily but does not live in.
3. (plural) The first prints of a day's filming; the rushes.

Word family

• dailiness
• daily-breader
• semidaily
• daily double

Related words

• day
• daylight
• -ly

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin