cotidianos

Cotidianos is a term used in Spanish and Portuguese to describe what concerns daily life, routines and ordinary affairs. As an adjective, its gendered forms are cotidiano/cotidiana (singular) and cotidianos/cotidianas (plural). As a noun, it can refer to the daily realities or the things that belong to everyday life. The concept centers on what happens routinely rather than what is exceptional.

Etymology traces cotidiano to Latin quotidianus, meaning daily or of every day, from the adverb quotidie, meaning daily. The word migrated into both Romance languages with the sense of the ordinary, repeated, or habitual aspects of existence. Its usage emphasizes normalcy, regularity and the rhythms of everyday experiences.

In usage, cotidiano appears in common expressions such as la vida cotidiana (daily life) or tareas cotidianas (everyday tasks) in Spanish, and o cotidiano or tarefas cotidianas in Portuguese. It is often contrasted with terms like extraordinario or sublime to highlight ordinary, routine, or banal aspects of life. In sociological and cultural contexts, the cotidianidad or quotidianidade concept analyzes how people organize time, manage daily chores, and negotiate social routines.

The term also appears in literature, journalism, and academic writing to frame discussions about the mundane as a site of meaning, habit formation, and social interaction. While closely related to synonyms like diario and diario cotidiano, cotidian(o) typically stresses regularity and the ordinary rather than the record of events or diary form.

See also: vida cotidiana, rutina, cotidianidad, quotidianidade.