Etymograph

English

today

Today comes from Middle English today, from Old English tōdæġ, tō dæġe ‘today’, literally ‘on [this] day’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150tō dæġe1‘on [the/this] day’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōdæġ1‘today’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500today1‘on the current day’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1899today1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English today
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1899, Hughes Mearns: “Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150tō dæġeWiktionary, English today‘on [the/this] day’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōdæġWiktionary, English today‘today’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500todayWiktionary, English today‘on the current day’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1899todayWiktionary, English today. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1899, Hughes Mearns: “Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man…”

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Today it means

adv On the current day or date.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “today”. 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 / Old English tō dæġe / today