student asking question

Is D-day a short form of something?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Great question. Technically "D-day" is a short form meaning "day-day". It is a military term, which is used in regular conversation to stand for any day of special meaning. You can also use it like "D+2" meaning two days after "D-Day". Ex: It's D-day! I have my final exam today. Ex: June 16th is D-day, the day I get married. To explain more about the origin of the word, “D-Day” is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. This shorthand helped prevent actual mission dates from falling into enemy hands, but it also proved handy when the start date for an attack was still undecided. That's how the term D-Day began to be used.

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