payday

American  

[pey-dey] / ˈpeɪˌdeɪ /

noun

paydays plural

1. the day on which wages are given, payment is made, etc.

2. Informal. a day or period during which a great deal of money, success, fame, etc., is won or obtained.

   Payday came when she was given a screen test by a big Hollywood studio.

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payday British  

/ ˈpeɪˌdeɪ /

noun

1. the day on which wages or salaries are paid

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paydays
  plural

Etymology

Origin of payday

First recorded in 1520–30; pay ¹ + day

Explanation

When you have a job, your payday is the day you get paid. You might wait to buy yourself a new outfit until after payday. Some jobs have a weekly payday — maybe Fridays are payday at the ice cream shop where you work. In other cases, you have to wait two weeks, or even a month, between paydays. You can also use payday to mean a sudden success or influx of money, either earned or won: "That movie brought a huge payday to its producers." Since 1932, there's also been a peanut and nougat-based candy bar called PayDay.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

payday paydays

The real payday comes from a one-time, 10-year stock award whose value depends largely on Welltower continuing to meet ambitious performance goals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

Discovery’s sale to Paramount Skydance Corp. closes, David Zaslav has already made a big payday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Lavrynovych knew he was doing wrong but carried on anyway, hoping to earn a payday.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

“The presence of branches is critical for traditionally underserved communities, so they are not forced to rely upon expensive payday lenders or check cashers,” the group wrote in its recent letter.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

The disappearance was astounding, as astounding, certainly, as the Grand Conspiracy of Lowery Field, when all sixty-four men in a single barrack vanished one payday and were never heard of again.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Annual wages soared by as much as 7% — the fastest rate in more than 40 years — and job switchers won even bigger paydays.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026

For early investors and executives, it could mean enormous paydays.

From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026

Investment banks leading their IPOs would be in line for fees, while funds that backed them could expect their own big paydays.

From Barron's ● May 5, 2026

When LIV launched in 2022, it attracted superstar golfers with enormous paydays and split the sport in two.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

I got by between paydays by neglecting overdue bills and borrowing money from Robin, so twice a month, when a few hundred dollars went into my account, it was gone within hours.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover