# yesterday
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ. Compare Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren, German gestern. By surface analysis, yester- +‎ day.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈjɛstədeɪ/, /ˈjɛstədɪ/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈjɛstɚdeɪ/, /ˈjɛstɚdi/
* (dated, Southern US folk speech) IPA: /ˈjɪstɚdeɪ/, /ˈjɪstɚdi/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK):(file)

### Noun

yesterday (plural yesterdays)
* The day immediately before today; one day ago.
    Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow.
    Yesterday was rainy, but by this morning it had begun to snow.
** 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 …
* (figuratively) The past, often in terms of being outdated.
    yesterday's technology
    The worker of today is different from that of yesterday.
** c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.
** 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

#### Usage notes

* The plural yesterdays is unusual and often poetic for the recent past, e.g. “all our yesterdays have come back to haunt us”.
* While pronunciations with /ˈjɪ-/ are now dialectal, they were formerly found in the standard language. For example, writer and orthoepist Thomas Sheridan prescribed such a pronunciation in his work.

#### Derived terms

* born yesterday
* day before yesterday
* need yesterday
* remember like it was yesterday
* yesterday but one
* yesterday is gone
* yesterday night
* yesterday-today-and-tomorrow
* yesterday-today-tomorrow

#### Translations

Afar: kimal
Afrikaans: gister
Ainu: ヌマン (numan)
Albanian: dje (sq)
Aleut: yam
Amharic: ትናንት (tənant), ትናንትና (tənantəna)
Andi: суни (suni)
Arabic: أَمْس (ʔams)
Cypriot Arabic: imps
Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbāriḥ)
Hijazi Arabic: أمس (ʔams)
Moroccan Arabic: البارح (el-bāriḥ)
South Levantine Arabic: مبارح (mbāreḥ, mbēreḥ)
Aragonese: ahier
Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek)
Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk)
Aromanian: aeri, aieri, ieri, eri, asearã
Assamese: কালি (kali) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), যোৱাকালি (züakali)
Asturian: ayeri (ast) m
Avar: сон (son)
Azerbaijani: dünən (az), dün (az)
Baluchi: زی (zí)
Bashkir: кисә (kisə), кисәге (kisəge)
Basque: atzo (eu)
Belarusian: учо́ра (učóra), ўчо́ра (ŭčóra)
Bengali: গতকাল (bn) (gotokal)
Bikol Central: kasu-udma, kasuhapon
Bislama: yestedei
Bulgarian: вче́ра (bg) (včéra)
Burmese: မနေ့က (ma.ne.ka.)
Catalan: ahir (ca)
Cebuano: gahapon
Chechen: селхана (selxana)
Chickasaw: oblaashaash
Chinese:
Cantonese: 昨天 (zok$^6$ tin$^1$), 琴日 (yue) (kam$^4$ jat$^6$), 尋日 / 寻日 (yue) (cam$^4$ jat$^6$), 昨日 (yue) (zok$^3$ jat$^6$)
Eastern Min: 昨暝 (sŏ̤h-màng)
Hakka: 昨晡日 (chô-pû-ngit)
Hokkien: 昨昏 (zh-min-nan) (cha-hng, cha̍h-hng, chah-hng, chăng), 昨日 (zh-min-nan) (cha-ji̍t, cha-li̍t, cha̍h-ji̍t, cha̍h-li̍t, cho̍h-ji̍t, cho̍h-li̍t), 昨暗 (zh-min-nan) (cha-àm)
Mandarin: 昨天 (zh) (zuótiān), 昨日 (zh) (zuórì)
Wu: 昨日 (zoq nyiq, zo nyiq)
Chuvash: ӗнер (ĕner)
Crimean Tatar: dün, tünevin
Czech: včerejšek (cs) m
Dalmatian: jere
Danish: i går (da)
Dutch: gisteren (nl)
Egyptian: (sf)
Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo)
Estonian: eile (et), eilnepäev
Faroese: í gjár, gjárdagur m
Fijian: nanoa (fj)
Finnish: eilinen (fi), eilispäivä (fi)
French: hier (fr)
Friulian: îr
Galician: onte (gl)
Georgian: გუშინ (gušin)
German: gestriger Tag, gestern (de)
Greek: χθες (el) (chthes)
Ancient: χθές (khthés)
Greenlandic: ippassaq
Gujarati: ગઈ કાલ f (gaī kāl)
Hebrew: אֶתְמוֹל (he) ('etmól), (formally or poetic) אֶמֶשׁ (he) ('émesh)
Higaonon: gabi-a
Hindi: कल (hi) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), कलि (hi) (kali)
Hungarian: tegnap (hu)
Hunsrik: gester
Icelandic: gærdagur (often with a definite article; gærdagurinn; the adverb í gær is much more frequently used than the noun equivalent)
Indonesian: kemarin (id)
Ingrian: egliin päivä, eglelliin päivä
Ingush: селхан (selxan)
Interlingua: heri (ia)
Inuktitut: ᐃᑉᐸᒃᓴᖅ (ippaksaq)
Irish: inné (ga)
Istriot: ièri
Italian: ieri (it) m
Japanese: 昨日 (ja) (きのう, kinō), 昨日 (ja) (さくじつ, sakujitsu)
Kaingang: rãké tá
Kannada: ನಿನ್ನೆ (kn) (ninne)
Kapampangan: napun
Kashmiri: راتھ (ks) (rāth)
Kazakh: кеше (keşe)
Khmer: ម្សិលមិញ (msəl mɨñ), ថ្ងៃម្សិល (tngay msəl), ម្សិល (km) (msəl)
Konkani: कालि (kāli)
Korean: 어제 (ko) (eoje), 작일 (ko) (jagil)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: duhî (ku)
Kyrgyz: кечээ (ky) (kecee)
Ladin: inier m
Lakota: htalehã
Lao: ມື້ວານ (lo) (mư̄ wān)
Latin: heri (la), hesternus
Latvian: vakar (lv), vakardiena f
Laz: ღომა (ğoma)
Ligurian: vêi m
Lithuanian: vakar (lt), vakardiena f, vakarykštė diena f
Livonian: eggiļ
Lombard: jer (lmo) m
Luganda: jjo
Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb)
Macanese: onte
Macedonian: вче́ра (včéra)
Malay: semalam (ms), kelmarin (ms)
Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (ml) (innale)
Maltese: bieraħ, ilbieraħ m
Mansaka: kagabi
Maori: nanahi
Marathi: काल (kāl)
Middle English: yesterday
Mongolian: өчигдөр (mn) (öčigdör)
Nauruan: ngago nane, nanahi
Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ
Ndzwani Comorian: vojana
Ngazidja Comorian: djana
Norman: hièr (Jersey)
Northern Sami: ievttá
Norwegian:
Bokmål: gårsdag (no) m
Nynorsk: gårdag m, gårsdag m
Occitan: ièr (oc)
Odia: ଗତକାଲି (or) (gatakāli)
Ojibwe: bijiinaago
Oromo: kaleessa
Papiamentu: ayera (á)
Pashto: پرون (ps) (pron)
Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz)
Piedmontese: ier m
Polabian: ceră f
Polish: wczoraj (pl) n
Portuguese: ontem (pt)
Quechua: qayna
Romanian: ieri (ro)
Romansch: ier, her
Russian: вчера́ (ru) (včerá)
Saho: kumal
Samoan: ananafi
Sanskrit: ह्यस् (sa) (hyás)
Sardinian: aiseru, deris
Scots: yestreen
Scottish Gaelic: an-dè
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р, ју̀че
Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh)
Shona: nezuro
Sicilian: aieri (scn)
Sidamo: bero
Sindhi: ڪلهه (sd) f (kalha)
Sinhalese: ඊයේ (si) (īyē)
Skolt Sami: jåhtta
Slovak: včera (sk)
Slovene: včéraj (sl)
Somali: shalay
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: cora
Upper Sorbian: wčera
Sotho: maobane (st)
Southern Sami: jååktan
Spanish: ayer (es)
Svan: ლა̄თ (lāt)
Swahili: jana (sw)
Swedish: gårdag (sv), i går (sv)
Sylheti: ꠇꠣꠁꠟ (xail) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context)
Tagalog: kahapon
Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirüz)
Tamil: நேற்று (ta) (nēṟṟu)
Tarantino: ajère
Tatar: кичә (tt) (kiçä)
Telugu: నిన్న (te) (ninna)
Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (mʉ̂ʉa-waan-níi)
Tibetan: ཁ་སང (kha sang)
Tok Pisin: asde (tpi)
Tswana: maabane
Turkish: dün (tr)
Turkmen: düýn
Ukrainian: учо́ра (učóra), вчо́ра (uk) (včóra)
Urdu: کل (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context)
Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (tünügün)
Uzbek: kecha (uz), kechagi (uz)
Venda: mulovha, mba-mulovha
Venetan: geri
Vietnamese: hôm qua (vi)
Volapük: ädel (vo)
Votic: egle
Vurës: nonor
Welsh: ddoe
West Frisian: juster (fy)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: gevi'i
Wolof: démb (wo), demba
Xhosa: izolo
Yagnobi: пиён (piyon)
Yakut: бэҕэһээ (beğehee)
Yao: liiso
Yiddish: נעכטן (nekhtn)
Yup'ik: unuamek, akwaugaq
Zazaki: vızêr (diq)
Zhuang: ngoenzlwenz, ngoenzvaz, ŋɵnƨlɯenƨ
Zulu: izolo class 5 :

### Adverb

yesterday (not comparable)
* On the day before today.
    Synonym: (Ireland) the last day
    Antonym: tomorrow
    I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening.
* (informal) As soon as possible.
    I want this done yesterday!

#### Related terms

* yester
* yesterevening
* yestern
* yesternight
* yesternoon
* yestersol
* yesteryear
* yestreen

#### Translations

Afrikaans: gister
Albanian: dje (sq)
Alviri-Vidari: (Vidari) ایزیره (izzire)
Amharic: ትናንትና (tənantəna)
Arabic: أَمْسِ (ʔamsi)
Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbāraḥ)
Moroccan Arabic: البارح (el-bāriḥ)
Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek)
Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk)
Asturian: ayeri (ast)
Avar: сон (son)
Azerbaijani: dünən (az), dün (az), ötən gün (formal)
Bashkir: кисә (kisə)
Basque: atzo (eu)
Belarusian: учо́ра (učóra), ўчо́ра (ŭčóra)
Breton: dec'h (br)
Bulgarian: вче́ра (bg) (včéra)
Burmese: မနေ့က (ma.ne.ka.)
Buryat: үсэгэлдэр (üsegelder)
Carpathian Rusyn: вче́ра (včéra), уче́ра (učéra), вчо́ра (včóra), учо́ра (učóra)
Catalan: ahir (ca)
Cebuano: gahapon
Chamicuro: likajpe'ta
Chechen: селхана (selxana)
Chichewa: dzulo
Chickasaw: oblaashaash
Chinese:
Cantonese: 尋日 / 寻日 (yue) (cam$^4$ jat$^6$), 琴日 (yue) (kam$^4$ jat$^6$), 昨天 (zok$^3$ tin$^1$)
Dungan: зуәр (zuər), зуәргә (zuərgə), ели (i͡əli), елигә (i͡əligə)
Eastern Min: 昨暝 (sŏ̤h-màng)
Gan: 昨日 ('coh$^7$ nyit$^6$)
Hakka: 昨晡日 (chhô-pû-ngit)
Hokkien: 昨昏 (zh-min-nan) (cha-hng)
Jin: 夜天 (ie$^3$ tie$^1$)
Mandarin: 昨天 (zh) (zuótiān), 昨日 (zh) (zuórì) (literary), 昨兒 / 昨儿 (zh) (zuór), 昨兒個 / 昨儿个 (zh) (zuórge)
Northern Min: 隔暝 (gă-mâng), 昨暝 (ciā-mâng)
Wu: 昨日 ($^8$zoq-gniq; $^6$zo-gniq)
Xiang: 昨日 (zo$^2$ r$^6$)
Chuvash: ӗнер (ĕner)
Cornish: de
Crimean Tatar: dün, tünevin
Czech: včera (cs)
Dalmatian: jere
Danish: i går (da)
Dutch: gisteren (nl)
Egyptian: (sf)
Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo)
Estonian: eile (et)
Extremaduran: ayel
Faroese: í gjár
Finnish: eilen (fi), eilispäivänä (fi)
French: hier (fr)
Friulian: îr
Georgian: გუშინ (gušin)
German: gestern (de)
Greek: χθες (el) (chthes)
Ancient: χθές (khthés)
Greenlandic: ippassaq
Guerrero Amuzgo: bja
Gujarati: ગઇકાલે (gaikāle)
Gurani: ھیزی (hîzî)
Haitian Creole: yè
Hebrew: אֶתְמוֹל (he) ('etmól)
Hindi: कल (hi) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), काल (hi) (kāl)
Hungarian: tegnap (hu)
Icelandic: í gær (is)
Ido: hiere (io)
Indonesian: kemarin (id)
Ingrian: egle
Interlingua: heri (ia)
Irish: inné (ga)
Istriot: ièri
Italian: ieri (it) m
Japanese: 昨日 (ja) (きのう, kinō; さくじつ, sakujitsu)
Kannada: ನಿನ್ನೆ (kn) (ninne)
Kazakh: кеше (keşe)
Khmer: ម្សិល (km) (msəl), ពីម្សិលមិញ (pii msəl mɨñ), ថ្ងៃម្សិលមិញ (thngay msəl mɨñ)
Komi-Permyak: тӧн (tön)
Korean: 어제 (ko) (eoje), 작일(昨日) (ko) (jagil)
Kyrgyz: кечээ (ky) (kecee)
Lakota: htalehã
Lao: ມື້ວານ (lo) (mư̄ wān)
Latin: heri (la), here (la)
Latvian: vakar (lv)
Lutuv: avuochaning
Lithuanian: vakar (lt)
Livonian: eggiļ
Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb)
Macanese: onte
Macedonian: вче́ра (včéra)
Malay: semalam (ms)
Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (ml) (innale)
Maltese: lbieraħ
Manx: jea
Marathi: काल (kāl)
Middle English: yesterday
Mòcheno: gester
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: өчигдөр (mn) (öčigdör)
Mongolian: ᠥᠴᠦᠭᠡᠳᠦᠷ (öčügedür)
Nanai: чисэниэ (čisenie)
Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ
Neapolitan: ajere
Ngan'gityemerri: kultyinimbi
Ngazidja Comorian: djana
Norman: hiaer (Guernsey), hièr (Jersey)
Northern Mansi: молхо̄тал (molhōtal)
Northern Sami: ikte
Norwegian:
Bokmål: i går
Nynorsk: i går
Occitan: ièr (oc)
Odia: ଗତକାଲି (or) (gatakāli)
Ojibwe: bijiinaago
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: вьчера (vĭčera)
Old East Slavic: вьчера (vĭčera)
Old English: geostran
Ossetian: знон (znon)
Pannonian Rusyn: вчера (včera)
Papiamentu: ayera
Pashto: پرون (ps) (parún)
Persian:
Dari: دِیروز (dīrōz)
Iranian Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz)
Pipil: yalua
Polish: wczoraj (pl)
Portuguese: ontem (pt)
Punjabi: ਕੱਲ੍ਹ (kallh)
Romanian: ieri (ro)
Romansch: ier
Russian: вчера́ (ru) (včerá)
Rwanda-Rundi: ejo
Sanskrit: ह्यस् (sa) (hyás)
Scottish Gaelic: an-dè
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р, ју̀че
Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh)
Sicilian: aieri (scn)
Sindhi: ڪلهه (sd) f (kalha)
Sinhalese: ඊයේ (si) (īyē)
Slovak: včera (sk)
Slovene: včeraj (sl)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: cora
Upper Sorbian: wčera
Spanish: ayer (es) m
Swahili: jana (sw)
Swedish: i går (sv), igår (sv)
Tagalog: kahapon
Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirüz)
Talysh: (Asalemi) ایزر (izər)
Tamil: நேற்று (ta) (nēṟṟu)
Tarantino: ajère
Tatar: кичә (tt) (kiçä)
Telugu: నిన్న (te) (ninna)
Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (mʉ̂ʉa-waan-níi)
Tibetan: ཁེ་སང (khe sang), ཁ་སང (kha sang)
Tigrinya: ትማሊ (ti) (təmali)
Tok Pisin: asde (tpi)
Turkish: dün (tr)
Turkmen: düýn
Ukrainian: учо́ра (učóra), вчо́ра (uk) (včóra)
Urdu: کَل (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), دِیروز (dīroz)
Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (tünügün)
Uzbek: kecha (uz), kechagi (uz)
Venetan: geri
Volapük: ädelo (vo)
Welsh: ddoe
West Frisian: juster (fy)
Yiddish: נעכטן (nekhtn)
Zhuang: ngoenzlwenz, ngoenzvaz
Zulu: izolo :

### See also

* hesternal
* last night
* nudiustertian
* today
* tomorrow night
* tonight

### References

* ↑ Hans Kurath and Raven Ioor McDavid (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 134–135.
* ↑ Thomas Sheridan (1790) A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning‎, volume 2, C. Dilly

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* ȝusterday, ȝurstendæi, ȝisterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, yusterday, ȝerstendæi, yurstai

### Etymology

From Old English ġiestrandæġ; equivalent to yester- +‎ day.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈjɛstərdæi/, /ˈjistərdæi/, /ˈjustərdæi/

### Adverb

yesterday
* On the preceding day
* At another preceding point in time; in the past

### Noun

yesterday
* The preceding day; yesterday
* A preceding point in time; the past

#### Descendants

* English: yesterday
* Scots: ȝisterday, ȝesterday
* Yola: yersthei, yerstei, yerstey

#### References

* “yester-dai, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.