A red-letter day is a special, happy and memorable day. It might sound like a holiday marked on the calendar, but people use it for personal events: a first pay cheque, a move, a wedding, a team's win. On the calendar, the day itself may be completely ordinary.
When would you say red-letter day?
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a red-letter day (for + person); be a real red-letter day
- The day I got my first pay cheque was a real red-letter day for me.
- Opening our new office in Kazan was a red-letter day for the whole team.
- Grandma's ninetieth birthday will be a red-letter day for our family.
What changed
First versionThe day I got my visa was a red day of the calendar for me.
RevisionThe day I got my visa was a red-letter day for me.
The idea of a day marked in red on the calendar leads to red day of the calendar, but English doesn't say that. The fixed phrase is red-letter day, with a hyphen, and the word calendar isn't part of it.
The idiom doesn't work for an official day off. A holiday on the calendar is a public holiday, and in Britain also a bank holiday: Christmas Day is a public holiday in the UK. A red-letter day is a day that became a celebration for you personally, even if you worked that day.
Your turn
We finally signed our first contract with a big client, so it was a ___ day for the whole company.
Show the answer
red-letter — The first big contract is a happy, memorable event for the company, so it's a red-letter day. Red day on its own isn't an idiom; it just sounds like a day that is red in colour.
Describe a day that became special for you. Say what happened and in what year.
The day I passed my driving test in 2021 was a red-letter day for me.
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