Carpe Diem Meaning: Where Seize the Day Comes From

Carpe diem meaning, word by word

Carpe is a command form of the Latin verb carpere, which means to pick or pluck, as you would pick fruit or flowers. Diem is the form of dies, day, used as the object of a verb. Put together, the literal sense is "pluck the day".

English speakers usually translate it as "seize the day", which sounds more forceful. Some scholars prefer "pluck the day" or "enjoy the day", because the picture is of picking something ripe before it spoils. Either way, the carpe diem definition is the same: take what today offers instead of trusting that tomorrow will offer it.

The poem it comes from

The words come from the Roman poet Horace, in the eleventh poem of his first book of Odes, published in 23 BC. In it, the speaker tells a woman named Leuconoe not to try to read the future in the stars. Life is short, he says, and even as they talk, time slips away. The poem ends by urging her to seize the day and to trust the next day as little as possible.

So the original message is less "go on an adventure" and more "stop worrying about a future you cannot know, and live well now". Later poets in many languages picked up the same theme of enjoying youth and beauty before they fade.

How people use carpe diem today

• "The concert is tonight and tickets are still available. Carpe diem, let's just go."
• My grandfather had carpe diem painted on a board above his workbench.
• She treated her gap year as a carpe diem year and said yes to every invitation.
• The speaker closed her graduation talk with a quiet carpe diem and sat down.

In speech it often works like a little cheer or nudge, standing alone after a plan or suggestion. It can also act as an adjective ("a carpe diem attitude") or a noun ("her personal carpe diem").

Carpe diem and memento mori

Two Latin sayings often appear side by side. Memento mori, remember that you will die, is a reminder of how short life is. Carpe diem is one response to that fact: if time is short, use it. In Horace's poem the two ideas belong together. In later centuries, memento mori became tied to serious reflection and repentance, while carpe diem leaned toward enjoyment, so some people now see them as opposite moods. See our page on memento mori for more.

Misreadings to avoid

• It does not mean "do anything you like". The poem is about wise use of time, not reckless behavior.
• The spelling is fixed. It is carpe diem, not carpe deum or carpae diem. Deum would mean god.
• Grammar. Carpe speaks to one person. Addressing a group in Latin would need carpite diem, though in English nobody expects that.
• Pronunciation varies. KAR-pay DEE-em is the common English way; some say KAR-pee DYE-em, an older school style.

Close sayings and ideas

English has plenty of relatives: "make hay while the sun shines", "live in the moment", "no time like the present" and the newer "you only live once". Each puts the stress a little differently, from practical work to pure enjoyment. The opposite habit is procrastination, putting things off. The idea also sits close to ephemeral, things that last only a short time. For more borrowed sayings, see the phrases and greetings section.