Previous Words
One useful English word a day
Word of the Day shows a single English vocabulary word each day, with its IPA pronunciation, part of speech, a short plain-English definition and an example sentence. A Chinese translation of the definition and example is included for learners whose first language is Chinese. The words are the kind that turn up in essays, news articles, business writing and exam reading passages — ephemeral, pragmatic, meticulous, juxtapose — rather than rare dictionary curiosities. Spending a minute on one word a day is a manageable routine for students, professionals writing in English and anyone who enjoys expanding their vocabulary.
How to use it
- Open the page to see today's word. The card shows the date, the word, its pronunciation, part of speech, meaning and an example sentence.
- Press Pronounce to hear the word spoken slowly by your browser's text-to-speech voice.
- Press Copy Card to copy the word, pronunciation, meaning and example as plain text, ready to paste into notes or flashcard software.
- Press Quiz Me for a multiple-choice question: read a definition and pick the matching word from four options. Next Question draws another.
- In Previous Words, move between months with Prev and Next and click any past date to see the word assigned to it.
How the daily word is chosen
There is no server or feed behind this page: the vocabulary list is bundled into the page itself and currently holds 136 entries. The word for a date is picked by a simple rule — the day of the year (0 for 1 January, 1 for 2 January and so on) divided by the length of the list, keeping the remainder as the position in the list. Everyone therefore sees the same word on the same calendar date, the sequence restarts from the first word every 1 January, and a word comes round again after 136 days, so most words appear two or three times a year. The date comes from your device's clock, so the word changes at local midnight and people in different time zones switch at different moments. The Previous Words calendar applies the same rule to past dates, which is why it can show any earlier day instantly.
The quiz is independent of the date: each question picks one word at random from the whole list and three other random words as distractors, then shuffles the four options.
Your streak and privacy
The bar at the top counts your Day Streak (consecutive calendar days on which you opened the page) and Days Visited (the total number of different days). These numbers are kept only in your browser's localStorage under the key wotd_streak, together with the date of your last visit. They are not sent anywhere, they do not sync between devices, and clearing your browser's site data resets them. Missing a day restarts the streak at 1. Pronunciation uses the browser's speech synthesis; depending on your browser, the voice may be produced on the device or by the browser vendor's online speech service, which then receives the word being spoken.
Limitations
Each entry gives one common sense of the word in a single line. Many of these words have other meanings, formal and informal registers, and related forms (for example, resilient and resilience) that a full dictionary will explain. The Chinese translations are short glosses meant as a study aid, not authoritative translations. The spoken pronunciation depends on the voice installed in your browser and may differ from the IPA shown on the card.
Frequently asked questions
Why did I see this word before?
The list is finite, so words repeat on a 136-day cycle, and the order restarts each New Year. Repetition is useful for memory, so treat a returning word as a review.
Can I see tomorrow's word?
Future dates are greyed out in the calendar, but the order is fixed, so there is no hidden randomness: tomorrow's word is simply the next entry in the list, except on 1 January, when the list starts again from the top.
Does Days Visited mean I have learned those words?
No. It only counts the days you opened the page. Use the quiz, write your own sentence with the word and review it a few days later to actually remember it.
Why is there no sound when I press Pronounce?
Your browser needs a working text-to-speech voice for English. Check that your device volume is up and that an English voice is installed in your system settings; some privacy-focused browsers disable speech synthesis.