Skip to main content

Daily vs Diurnal vs Quotidian vs Circadian

Daily, diurnal, quotidian, circadian mean of each or every day.

Daily is used with reference to the ordinary concerns and customary happenings of life.

Sometimes however it implies an opposition to nightly.

Diurnal is commonly either astronomical (with special reference to the movements of the heavenly bodies) or poetic in its use. Diurnal also implies opposition to nocturnal.

Quotidian adds to daily the implication of recurrence each day. It often suggests also a commonplace, routine, or everyday character or quality.

Circadian is a chiefly technical term of recent coinage that differs from daily or quotidian in implying only approximate equation with the twenty-four hour day.