quotidian

adjective

quo·​tid·​i·​an kwō-ˈti-dē-ən 

1

: occurring every day

quotidian fever

2

a

: belonging to each day : everyday

quotidian routine

b

: commonplace, ordinary

quotidian drabness

quotidian noun

Did you know?

In William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, the character Rosalind observes that Orlando, who has been running about in the woods carving her name on trees and hanging love poems on branches, "seems to have the quotidian of love upon him." The Bard's use doesn't make it clear that quotidian comes from a Latin word, quotidie, which means "every day." But as odd as it may seem, his use of quotidian is just a short semantic step away from the "daily" adjective sense. Some fevers come and go but occur daily; in medical use, these are called "quotidian fevers" or simply "quotidians." Poor Orlando is afflicted with such a "fever" of love.

Synonyms

• common
• common or garden [chiefly British]
• commonplace
• everyday
• familiar
• frequent
• garden-variety
• household
• ordinary
• routine
• ubiquitous
• usual

Examples of quotidian in a Sentence

not content with the quotidian quarrels that other couples had, they had rows that shook the entire neighborhood

plagued by a quotidian coughing fit, the result of years of smoking

Recent Examples on the Web

Her women talk—and talk and talk, and then talk some more—and in each exchange the quotidian details of life spark ideas and insight into the human condition. —Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2024

By excising Batman and his fantastical sway on Gotham from The Penguin, the city’s criminal underworld feels more grounded in the quotidian details of drug deals and power plays, in actual matters of life and death. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2024

Its chief weapon in Tibet is not dystopian camps but something seemingly more quotidian: residential schools. —Tenzin Dorjee, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023

Yet, as Ukrainian citizens learn to coexist with the destruction that plagues their quotidian comings and goings, the resilience of the country’s artists couldn’t be more thunderous. —Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 2 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English cotidian, from Anglo-French, from Latin quotidianus, cotidianus, from quotidie every day, from quot (as) many as + dies day — more at deity

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

quotidian

1 of 2 adjective

quo·​tid·​i·​an kwō-ˈtid-ē-ən 

: occurring every day

quotidian fever

quotidian

2 of 2 noun

: something (as an intermittent fever) that occurs each day