hoy (Spanish)

Where does "hoy" come from?

The Spanish word "hoy," meaning "today," stems from the Latin phrase "hodiē," which was a combination of "hōc" (this) and "diē" (day). This literal translation of "on this day" evolved through Old Spanish as "oy" before reaching its modern form. Its ultimate roots can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European concept of "dyḗws," which represented the sky and the brightness of the heavens.

Full etymology tree

• hoy (Spanish), 'today'
  • inherited oy (Old Spanish), 'today'
    • inherited hodiē (Latin), 'today'
      • compound hōc (Latin), 'nominative/accusative neuter singular of hic (“this”)'
        • inherited *hod (Proto-Italic)
        • inherited *ke (Proto-Italic), 'here'
          • inherited *ḱe (Proto-Indo-European), 'Deictic particle, here'
      • compound diē (Latin), 'ablative/locative singular of diēs (“day”)'
        • inherited diēs (Latin), 'A day'
          • derived diem (Latin), 'accusative singular of diēs (“day”)'
            • inherited *djēm (Proto-Italic), 'accusative singular of *djous'
              • inherited *dyḗws (Proto-Indo-European), 'sky, heaven'
                • derived *dyew- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be bright, to shine'
                • affix *-s (Proto-Indo-European), 'Derives feminine mobile-accented root nouns from roots.'

Ancestors

• oy (Old Spanish)
• hodie (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

• oggi (Italian)
• hoje (Portuguese)

Descendants and derived words

• a día de hoy (Spanish)
• antes hoy que mañana (Spanish)
• de hoy a mañana (Spanish)
• de hoy en adelante (Spanish)
• de hoy más (Spanish)
• el día de hoy (Spanish)
• el día de hoy (Spanish)
• es para hoy (Spanish)
• hoy día (Spanish)
• hoy en día (Spanish)
• hoy por hoy (Spanish)
• hoy por ti, mañana por mí (Spanish)

Updated July 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris