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Etymology and origin of the English word weekday

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
Ultimate origins
Old English wicuProto-Germanic *dag
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old English dæg
English weekday
From the same root
English midday ← dæg

Pronunciation

  • /ˈwiːkdeɪ̯/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English weke-dai,[2] inherited from Old English wicdæg, also wicudæg and wucedæg,[3][2][4] formed from Old English wicu + dæg, that is week and day.[4][5][6] Similar compounds are Old High German wehhatag, Old Norse vikudagr, Swedish veckodag, Danish ugedag and German Wochentag;[5][2][3] Wiktionary reconstructs the common form as Proto-Germanic *wikadagaz.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A day of the week: in the early Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History,[5] where the faithful are said to fast on the fourth and sixth weekdays.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word meant any day of the week, and could also mean a working day on which business could be done.[3][5] In late medieval Scotland and Ireland it was used of a day that was neither market day nor Sunday (1477).[5][7] From 1534 it meant a day other than Sunday, a day for work,[5][4] and Johnson (1755) defined it as any day not Sunday.[6] In the 20th century, with the spread of the weekend, Saturday dropped out too, and the word now usually means Monday to Friday.[5][8] The Cursor Mundi also used it for a week, or a working week, a sense lost after 1602.[5]

Timeline

  • Old English – a day of the week.[5][3]
  • before 1400 – a week; a working week (obsolete after 1602).[5]
  • 1477 – in Scotland and Ireland, a day other than market day or Sunday.[5][7]
  • 1534 – a day other than Sunday, a working day.[5][4]
  • 20th century – a day other than Saturday or Sunday.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any day of the week except Saturday and Sunday, regarded as a workday: The museum is quieter on weekdays.[8][4][5]
  2. (older) Any day of the week except Sunday.[4][5][6]
  3. Used attributively, of things that happen on weekdays: weekday traffic.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Weekday.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/weekday. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·