noun
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an anniversary of the day of one's birth
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( as modifier )
birthday present
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the day on which a person was born
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any anniversary
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of birthday
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at birth, day
Explanation
Your birthday is the day of your birth! It’s the yearly anniversary that marks the day you were born. Not everyone celebrates, but a birthday is a good excuse for a party and cake. You can use birthday both to refer to the specific day of a baby's birth, and the annual marking of that day throughout the years that follow. Sometimes people talk about the birthday of a country, group, or even a building: "It's the art museum's fiftieth birthday next year." The Old English byrddæg originally referred to the celebration of a king or saint's birth, but over the years it was extended to include everyone.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Jared said his mother died shortly after her 63rd birthday in January this year.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The first came from a friend in San Francisco who recently celebrated his 70th birthday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Another photo showed a birthday cake for Suu Kyi, who turned 81 in June, and a fourth image showed Suu Kyi with the cake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Another image shows Suu Kyi cutting a birthday cake, and another shows the cake with text reading: "Happy Birthday Aunty Suu."
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
“I know you well enough to know how you handle stress—you go see Grace. I’m sorry your birthday has been so stressful.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Among all large IPOs between 1975 and 2021, the shares of close to half were below their IPO price on their third birthdays.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
So, based only on his current age of 80, Trump is likely to see eight more birthdays.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
But on birthdays, especially at Olive Garden, the calories didn’t count, and the extra Andes Mint I passed her — because I didn’t care for chocolate in my youth — could be savored.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026
His best-known innovation—his introduction, in 1922, of the modern bat mitzvah, to mark the 12th birthdays of Jewish girls—is now standard practice in all but Orthodox synagogues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
We only go on our birthdays and Diwali because Dadi begs us to go.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
