Payday

How to spell payday

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce payday

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does payday mean?

1. nounThe day on which a person receives their wages or salary.

Payday in a sentence

• Most of the staff plan their grocery shopping around payday.

• The rent is always due two days after payday.

Where does payday come from?

Language of origin: French

This is a compound of two everyday words. 'Pay' came into English in the 1200s from the Old French verb 'paier', which traced back to the Latin 'pacare', meaning 'to pacify' or 'to appease'; the link is that settling a debt was a way of keeping a creditor satisfied and peaceful, from the same Latin 'pax' that gives us 'peace'. 'Day' is far older and entirely native, descending from the Old English 'dæg', a common Germanic word for the time of daylight or a single span of twenty-four hours. The two were joined to mark the recurring day on which wages are handed out, a usage that became common in American and British workplaces during the 1800s. Because both halves are familiar and spelled exactly as they sound, the only real spelling point is remembering it is written as one solid word, not 'pay day'.

How the word is built

• pay (to give money owed)
• day (a period of 24 hours)