Etymograph

English

everyday

Everyday comes from Middle English everidayes.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500everidayes1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1931everyday1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English everyday
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1931, Jack While, Fifty Years of Fire Fighting in London: “This was an everyday and everynight scene a couple…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500everidayesWiktionary, English everyday
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1931everydayWiktionary, English everyday. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1931, Jack While, Fifty Years of Fire Fighting in London: “This was an everyday and everynight scene a couple…”

The story

From Middle English everidayes, every daies, every dayes (“everyday, daily, continual, constant”, adjective, literally “every day's”), equivalent to every + day.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

adj Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “everyday”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English everidayes / everyday