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:
Aardman celebrated its 50th birthday this year, after it was founded by school friends Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton in 1976.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
The mother-of-two, married to an economics professor with a ponytail, is a fan of heavy metal band System of a Down and held a "Sex and the City"-themed party for her 40th birthday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Then, the month after his 20th birthday, police arrested him.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
No wonder that Churchill, who had been asked to send a greeting for Baldwin’s 80th birthday, offered his terse judgment instead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
She baked him a birthday cake, and the two of them ate it themselves when Mr. Garner and the twins were at football practice.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Parents could choose from an approved list of foods for birthdays; watermelon was OK.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
As Loretta Savery’s longtime jeweler, Nelson Holdo remembered the little details: birthdays and anniversaries, where her sons went to college, their majors and if they had girlfriends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
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
"For me that meant no bedtime hugs, no bedtime stories, no Christmases, no birthdays," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
The deal is, this is really two birthdays for the price of one, because Freak the Mighty is almost a year old.
From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick
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.
