Wednesday

American  

[wenz-dey, -dee] / ˈwɛnz deɪ, -di /

noun

1. the fourth day of the week, following Tuesday.

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Wednesday British  

/ ˈwɛnzdɪ, -deɪ /

noun

1. the fourth day of the week; third day of the working week

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Usage

What does Wednesday mean? Wednesday is the weekday between Tuesday and Thursday. In much of North and South America, where most countries (including the U. S. and Canada) consider the calendar week to begin on Sunday, Wednesday is the fourth day of the week. (In other places, where the week is considered to begin on Saturday or Monday, Wednesday is the fifth or third day of the week.)Regardless of when the week officially begins, in many places Wednesday is considered the third day of the workweek, the five-day span from Monday to Friday during which many people work (with Saturday and Sunday considered the weekend). Because Wednesday falls directly in the middle of the workweek (around what is called midweek), with two days on either side, it is sometimes informally referred to as hump day. This is a humorous way of expressing the idea that it is the day on which everyone makes it “over the hump,” as if the workweek were a hill with Wednesday as the point after which everything starts to be “downhill” toward the weekend. The word Wednesdays can be used as an adverb meaning every Wednesday or on Wednesdays, as in I work Wednesdays or The shop is closed Wednesdays. To indicate the general time of day during which something will happen on a Wednesday, the word can be followed by the general time, as in Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday evening, and Wednesday night. Example: I’m glad it’s finally Wednesday and the workweek is halfway over, but that means we still have two days to go.

Etymology

Origin of Wednesday

before 950; Middle English Wednesdai, Old English *Wēdnesdæg, mutated variant of Wōdnesdæg Woden's day; cognate with Dutch Woensdag, Danish onsdag; translation of Latin Mercuriī diēs day of Mercury

Example Sentences

Shares soared 12% on Wednesday after Nvidia announced plans to invest $500 million in the glassmaker to expand manufacturing of fiber optics, a key connective tissue for AI infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

In the short handwritten note released Wednesday, Epstein allegedly wrote, “They investigated me for month — Found nuthing!!!”

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

However, their biggest test yet will come on 30 May in Budapest against Paris St-Germain, who reached the final with a 6-5 aggregate win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

Drivers making more than $125,000 cut back the least on buying gas, and had the largest spending increases, according to research released Wednesday from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026

"On Wednesday I saw Gregory walking around the set storage area with Scruffy," Nancy said out loud to her friends.

From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene