Gestern

Part of speech: adverb, noun

Definitions

1. A German term signifying the day immediately before the current one ; frequently used in conversation or writing to reference events or actions from twenty-four hours prior
2. Refers in German language to the calendar day preceding today ; commonly applied when talking about occurrences or situations happening one day ago
3. Denotes, in German, the period that directly precedes the present day ; typically utilized to indicate something that transpired just yesterday

Etymology: English "yesterday" and German "gestern" are close relatives, and both trace back to the same ancient root that gave Latin "heri" and Greek "khthes", both meaning "yesterday." Linguists reconstruct this root as something like *ghes-, so a German speaker and a Roman were, without knowing it, using words that descend from one shared term for the day before. The German form appears in Old High German as "gestaron" and "gestrin," recorded roughly from the 8th to 9th century. The -n ending probably preserves an old case form, while English keeps the same stem in "yester" (as in "yesteryear") and joins it to "day" to make "yesterday."

Synonyms: yesterday

Antonyms: tomorrow