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:
The pair had been attending a birthday party in Soho in London in 2004 when the alleged incidents happened.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
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
On July 3, 1926, Marie Weirich celebrated her 40th birthday at the family apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
“Jonah’s the guy you were talking to at your birthday, yeah?” she asks.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
She then put the property on the market for $29.9 million in May, just two months before her youngest children, twins Knox and Vivienne, celebrated their 18th birthdays.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Volunteer bakers are paying out of their own pockets so children in need do not go without a cake on their birthdays.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Since then, I’ve baked the cake for countless weddings, birthdays and gender reveals.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
Parents could choose from an approved list of foods for birthdays; watermelon was OK.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Andrew’s ordinary days were filled with the kind of things most people have only on birthdays.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
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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.
