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birthday

noun · verb

Simple meaning

An anniversary of the day on which a person was born.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

burthday

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɝθdeɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An anniversary of the day on which a person was born (or the celebration of it)

  2. The date on which someone is born or something is created, more commonly called birthdate or date of birth.

  3. The date on which a person was born

  4. The anniversary of the day on which something is created.

  5. A birthday party.

verb

  1. intransitiveinformal

    To celebrate one's birthday.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An anniversary of the day on which a person was born (or the celebration of it)

Used this way, birthday is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Slightly positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Positive and appreciative
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use birthday

  • “We are planning a surprise birthday party for Mom.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

birthday partyhappy birthdaybirthday presentbirthday cakebirthday giftbirthday cardfirst birthdayfifth birthday

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • birthday cakenounCompound term

    Decorated cake served at a birthday party.

  • birthday cardnounCompound term

    A card expressing a birthday greeting.

  • birthday giftnounCompound term

    A present given in celebration of a person's birthday.

  • birthday partynounCompound term

    A party held on the anniversary of someone's birth.

  • birthday presentnounCompound term

    A present given in celebration of a person's birthday.

  • birthday suitnounCompound term

    Informal terms for nakedness.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.