Wednesday
nounThe fourth day of the week, falling between Tuesday and Thursday.
How to spell Wednesday
9 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce Wednesday
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does Wednesday mean?
- nounThe fourth day of the week, falling between Tuesday and Thursday.
Wednesday in a sentence
-
The meeting is on Wednesday.
-
Yoga class is every Wednesday evening.
-
By Wednesday we should have a decision.
Where does Wednesday come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Wednesday comes from the Old English Wodnesdæg, literally 'Woden's day', honouring the chief Anglo-Saxon god Woden (the Norse Odin). This was itself a translation of the Latin dies Mercurii, 'day of Mercury', because the Romans associated their messenger god Mercury with the same position in the week, and early Germanic peoples matched their own equivalent deity. The spelling preserves a 'd' and an 'e' that English speakers stopped pronouncing centuries ago, which is exactly why the word is such a notorious trap: we say something like 'WENZ-day' but must still write the silent 'd' after the 'e'. The other weekday names follow the same pattern, with Tuesday from the god Tiw and Thursday from Thunor (Thor). Knowing the buried name 'Woden' inside the word is the surest way to remember the otherwise invisible letters.
How the word is built
- Wednes- (from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon god)
- day (from Old English dæg)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.