noun
-
-
an anniversary of the day of one's birth
-
( as modifier )
birthday present
-
-
the day on which a person was born
-
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:
The restaurant occupied a sprawling shopping center alongside an Olive Garden, a Cabela’s and a Costco, making it something of a regional mecca for homecoming dinners, birthday parties and Little League victories.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
From there I headed south for a friend’s planned birthday party on the sand in Newport Beach, but city streets had been flooded and beaches were closed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Rethink your birthday plans: As a kid, you get a birthday party.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
On July 3, 1926, Marie Weirich celebrated her 40th birthday at the family apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
But after her birthday, she was able to see events that didn’t occur until weeks later.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
“I was moving to be with my granddaughter in an ordinary way. I wanted the ordinary — not just birthdays and holidays,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
It is a season in which a lot of energy is flowing out: two family weddings back-to-back, seven family birthdays between August and November, the usual work, a cookbook project, a documentary.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
With both of their birthdays at the end of October, Emily says they'd always planned to spend them together, but "now I just come here".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Parents could choose from an approved list of foods for birthdays; watermelon was OK.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
All the kids in the Thursday resource room celebrated their birthdays with a sheet cake, and he had made a specific note when it was Valencia’s turn.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
