different between yester vs yesterday

English

Etymology

From Middle English yester, yister, from Old English geostran (“yesterday”). Cognate with Dutch gisteren (“yesterday”), German gestern (“yesterday”). More at yesterday.

Adverb

yester (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Yesterday.

Adjective

yester (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Of or pertaining to yesterday.

   Synonyms: last, yesterday

Noun

yester (countable and uncountable, plural yesters)

1. (archaic) Yesterday.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Eyster, Steyer

English

Etymology

From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ?esterdai, ?isterdai, from Old English ?iestrandæ?, ?ister dæ?, ?estor dæ?, ?eostran dæ?, equivalent to yester- +? day; see there for more. Compare Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????????????? (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren, German gestern.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?j?st?de?/, /?j?st?d?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?j?st?de?/, /?j?st?di/
• (dated, Southern US folk speech) IPA^(key): /?j?st?de?/, /?j?st?di/

Noun

yesterday (plural yesterdays)

1. The day immediately before today; one day ago.
2. (figuratively) The past, often in terms of being outdated.
   • 1606 William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.5

     All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.

Usage notes

• The plural yesterdays is unusual and often poetic for the recent past, e.g. “all our yesterdays have come back to haunt us”.
• While pronunciations with /?j?-/ are now dialectal, they were formerly found in the standard language. For example, writer and orthoepist Thomas Sheridan prescribed such a pronunciation in his work.

Derived terms

• born yesterday
• yesterday is gone

Translations

Adverb

yesterday (not comparable)

1. On the day before today.

   Synonym: (Ireland) the last day

   Antonym: tomorrow

2. (informal) As soon as possible.

Related terms

Translations

See also

• hesternal
• today
• tomorrow night
• tonight
• last night
• nudiustertian

References

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ?usterday, ?urstendæi, ?isterday, yisterday, ?esterdai, yusterday

Etymology

From Old English ?iestrandæ?; equivalent to yester- +? day.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?j?st?rd?i/, /?jist?rd?i/, /?just?rd?i/

Adverb

yesterday

1. On the preceding day
2. At another preceding point in time; in the past

Noun

yesterday

1. The preceding day; yesterday
2. A preceding point in time; the past

Descendants

• English: yesterday
• Yola: yerstey

References

• “yester-dai, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.