Wednesday

[wenz-dey, -dee]

noun

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

Wednesday

/ ˈwɛnzdɪ, -deɪ /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Wednesday¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Wednesday¹

Old English Wōdnes dæg Woden's day, translation of Latin mercurii dies Mercury's day; related to Old Frisian wōnsdei, Middle Dutch wōdensdach (Dutch woensdag )

Example Sentences

On Wednesday, over tea and cakes with veterans of the Ukraine war, President Vladimir Putin announced Russia had tested a new weapon.

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However, Sir Keir Starmer said it was "regrettable" Reeves did not share all the relevant emails when she first told him about the issue on Wednesday evening.

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Wednesday's election descended into chaos as hundreds took to the streets of Dar es Salaam and other cities, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an internet shutdown and curfew.

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The popular Mexican food chain’s results, released late Wednesday, weren’t bad per se: Earnings and revenue matched Wall Street’s forecasts.

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It lost more than 40% of its market value Wednesday because of a drastically reduced outlook.

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When To Use

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.