dzień dobry

Polish

Etymology

Literally, good day. The original, now dated, form was dobry dzień (which see for more), which at some point began to be pronounced as dobrydzień (now dated and dialectal) with the stress on -bry-; to prevent the spread of that rural form, the words were rearranged.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʑɛɲ ˈdɔ.brɘ/
  • Audio 1:(file)
  • Audio 2:(file)
  • Audio 3:(file)
  • Syllabification: dzień do‧bry

Interjection

dzień dobry

  1. (idiomatic) good day, good morning, good afternoon
    Coordinate terms: dobranoc, dobry wieczór

Descendants

  • Belarusian: дзе́нь до́бры (dzjénʹ dóbry) (calque)
  • Silesian: dziyń dobry (calque)
  • Ukrainian: де́нь до́брий (dénʹ dóbryj) (calque)

Further reading

  • dzień dobry in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • dzień dobry in Polish dictionaries at PWN