workaday

English

Alternative forms

  • workyday (obsolete)

Etymology

Middle English werkedei, from Old Norse virkr dagr (“working day”). Cognate to later workday; see work and day. Used in adjective sense from 16th century.[1] By surface analysis, work +‎ -a- +‎ day. First attested in c. 1200.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɜːkədeɪ/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwɜɹkədeɪ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

workaday (comparative more workaday, superlative most workaday)

  1. Suitable for everyday use.
    Synonyms: everyday, general, regular; see also Thesaurus:common
  2. Mundane or commonplace.
    Synonyms: garden variety, ordinary, typical; see also Thesaurus:normal
    • 1916, James Joyce, chapter III, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 124:
      A retreat, my dear boys, signifies a withdrawal for a while from the cares of our life, the cares of this workaday world, in order to examine the state of our conscience, to reflect on the mysteries of holy religion and to understand better why we are here in this world."
    • 2021 February 6, Rachel Monroe, “Ultra-fast Fashion Is Eating the World”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic‎[1], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 May 2026:
      But then something started to shift—the Burning Man aesthetic was creeping into the workaday world; festival culture went mainstream.

Translations

Noun

workaday (plural workadays)

  1. (archaic, dialect) A workday.

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “workaday”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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