For Americans, a diary is a book with blank pages in which one records ones thoughts, feelings, experiences. American diaries often come with a lock and key, probably less to use than to convey the idea that the contents are personal and secret.
This is the sense of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl. It’s sometimes used in Britain as well. See the fictional Bridget Jones’ Diary and the real-life diaries of such figures as Virginia Woolf and Harold Nicolson.
But I believe that the main British meaning is different. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it this way: “a book or piece of software with a space or page for each day, in which you record future arrangements, meetings, etc.” The dictionary gives these examples:
- Is there anything in your diary for tomorrow afternoon?
- Please check the appointments diary before scheduling a meeting.
- She has a very full diary this week but she could see you next week.
- Our CEO is seeking a part-time diary secretary to help him manage his appointments efficiently.
None of these would be used in the U.S., and I’ve yet to encounter an American use of this kind of diary (which we call a datebook or calendar). But a couple of days ago, I read this in a New Yorker profile of Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City: “Adams’s diary of official events seems far fuller than those of his predecessors.”
The asterisk mentioned in the title of this post has to do with the author of the New Yorker article, Ian Parker. He has been a staff writer for the magazine since 2000, but his New Yorker bio says that before then, “he was the television critic for the London Observer and a writer and editor at the Independent.” So I’d say that datebook “diary” qualifies as a NOOB, but only by virtue of the New Yorker editors who let it through.
notoneoffbritishisms.com 
I’m familiar with the British usage, but have never seen in American (or have never noted it). The British usage makes sense, though, as it suddenly dawns on me that the word “diary” is surely a cognate of “daily.”
the word “diary” is surely a cognate of “daily.”
Apparently not, according to Chambers. Daily comes from “day”, which comes from the Old English “dæg” and the German “Tag”. It specifically says not L. dies.
Sorry, I meant going back farther than English. In this case, Germanic and Latin forms came from a common proto Indo-European word.
When I was first starting out in full time employment, one of my former schoolmates, who had joined the UK Civil Service, regaled us all with something he had been told on his first day in his new office: the four D’s of a clear desk were Do it, Delegate it, Diary it, or Ditch it!
So I can confirm that the “record an appointment” meaning was well enough established in the early 70’s to feature in aphorisms for the instruction of Youth!
Having a few dictionaries at my disposal, I checked Webster’s Third New International (primarily because it was easier to get at than my copy of the Second). Its definition (1961) made no reference to a diary containing primarily personal content. *However*, by the early ’90s, both the American Heritage Third (1992) and the MW Collegiate Tenth (1994) both mentioned personal (i.e. private) content in their first definitions.
My guess would be that the sense of ‘diary’ as a book containing primarily personal/private content came into general usage in the states around the middle of the 20th Century. Much earlier, and I’m sure W3 would have captured it, and much later and it would probably have been too novel for AH3/MW10.
To speculate further, the shift in usage might have been concomitant with marketing diaries to young girls.
The “secret” connotation appealing to young girls might have grown throughout the 20th century, but the general idea of a personal, private journal of one’s life goes back for centuries. Think of Pepys’ diaries, for instance.
I had numerous dictionaries saved on my favourites – until I recently lost most of them in transition to a new laptop – including several versions of Webster’s. The 1828 has this definition:
“DIARY, noun [Latin , a day.] An account of daily events or transactions; a journal; a register of daily occurrences or observations; as a diary of the weather. A diary fever is a fever of one day.” It was worth looking it up for the diary fever alone.
My paper 1988 Chambers has “diary n. a daily record: a book for making daily records, noting engagements, etc…”
(And gives the adjectives diarial and diarian.)
The current free online Chambers, which I think is a shortened version, has “diary noun (diaries) 1 a a written record of daily events in a person’s life; b a book containing this. 2 Brit a book with separate spaces or pages for each day of the year in which appointments, daily notes and reminders may be written.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c: from Latin diarium, from dies day.”
(No adjectives.)
You’re quite wrong. American and British girls (and, frequently, men) kept personal diaries throughout the nineteenth century, as documented in Peter Gay’s “The Bourgeois Experience.” In fact, it’s probable that far fewer of either gender did so by 1945, when Anne Frank was in her prime. Google n-gram viewer suggests that the terms “personal diary” and “personal journal” grew apace of one another throughout.
Where does “journal” fit into this? I was under the impression that it also meant both a personal book and a record of appointments, but I could be wrong?
British usage certainly includes both meanings and may be determined by context. Indeed, many people use “page per day” diaries for both purposes.
As a teacher of business English (English as a foreign language for office workers), I always tell my students to avoid the word “diary” as it leads to too much international confusion. I tell them to use “calendar”, as this is the word used by e.g. Outlook and Google to refer to their planning software.
In the National Archives, among the Truman papers is an item described as “Diary and Appointment Book of Harry S. Truman” . It’s what we British would call a pocket diary, produced by General Electric. Is that type of book called something else in the US now?
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/207521347?objectPage=36
Here’s one for sale 1915 Ideal Diary Co of New York . https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112584513972
Three lines for each day. More revival than NOOB.
“Diarise” is a very useful verb. Does US English have a single word that means “put something in your calendar”?
Some people actually say “calendar” as a verb for that, but it’s not that common. “Oh, I see it’s already been calendared.”
I’m writing as an American born in the late 1950s. As a child, in my personal vocabulary, a diary was a book in which a person usually a girl began each page with the words “Dear Diary” and then proceeded to either record memories or personal feelings. It was viewed as a book of confidences and was viewed as “PRIVATE” and “Off-Limits” for anyone except the writer of the diary. Reading someone’s diary was considered an invasion of their privacy except in the case of a Parent or Law Enforcement— and in both those cases it was thought of as invasive and in need of justification.
Here’s a 1960 GE diary for sale on ebay for $6-99. So this was still a valid use in the US then and has disappeared since. Three American examples so far. Well done me.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/353665184967
The Moody Blues recorded a song in 1969 called “Dear Diary” in which the American connotation was adopted..