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

Someone else would have written a story about an old woman, still alive after three earnest requests not to be, crying at the quotidian touch of her child’s child. —Audrey Wollen, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025

Her quotidian life was lecturing at a college in Aberdeen, close to where she was born, and the travel and mountaineering a teacher’s schedule enables. —Sadie Stein, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2025

Even daily quotidian choices like what to wear and what to eat can flex decision-making muscles. —Theo Wolf, Contributor, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2025

Jacobs-Jenkins arms the scene with some sharp punchlines — Claudine’s letters are hopelessly quotidian; one is about seeing Barbie — but never cuts truly deep with character insight. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 Mar. 2025

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

Rhymes for quotidian

• ascidian
• dravidian
• obsidian
• enchiridion
• gideon
• lydian

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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