today

See also: to-day

English

Alternative forms
  • to-day (archaic), to day (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English today, to-daie, todæig, from Old English tōdæġ, tō dæġe (“today”, literally “on [the/this] day, [this] day forward”), equivalent to to +‎ day. Compare Saterland Frisian däälich (“today”), Dutch vandaag (“today”), Old Saxon hindag (“today”, literally “[this] day forward”), German Low German vandage, vandaag (“today”), Swedish i dag, idag (“today”).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /təˈdeɪ/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /təˈdeɪ/, [tʰəˈdeɪ], /tʊˈdeɪ/, [tʰʊˈdeɪ], [tʰʉɾeɪː]
  • Audio (GA)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ
  • Hyphenation: to‧day

Adverb

today (not comparable)

  1. On the current day or date.
    I want this done today.
    Today, my brother went to the shops.
  2. In the current era; nowadays; these days.
    In the 1500s, people had to do things by hand, but today we have electric can openers.
    • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
      Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
  3. (informal) The day of a recurring cycle or event which is currently happening.
    We used to prepare everything today, but now we split it over two days.

Translations

Noun

today (plural todays)

  1. A current day or date.
    Synonyms: current day, this day
    Today is the day we'll fix this once and for all.
    The youth of today have never known what life is like without a cell phone.
    • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
      Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
  2. (informal or meteorology) From approximately 6am to 6pm on the current day.
  3. The present time period; nowadays.

Usage notes

Todays is a mostly literary plural. It refers to days that we experience, have experienced or will experience as "today". More colloquial are these days and nowadays.

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective

today (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Current; up to date.
    Synonym: now
    • 1965, Tom Wolfe, quoting Phil Spector, “The First Tycoon of Teen”, in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 67:
      Actually, it's more like the blues. It's pop blues. I feel it's very American. It's very today. It's what people respond to today.
    • 1966 December 18, Joan Barthel, “Francoise from France: White Boots and Ye-Ye”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      […] she (Françoise Hardy) is so today, so white boots and yé-yé, that she can make anyone over 25 (me) feel prehistoric, raccoon coat and rah-rah.

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English tōdæġ, equivalent to to- +‎ day.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /toːˈdɛi̯/, /tɔˈdɛi̯/, /tuˈdɛi̯/

Adverb

today

  1. On the current day.
  2. On this date in past years.
  3. (used substantively) The current day.

Descendants
  • English: today
  • Yola: to-die, to die

References
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