once upon a time
/ˈwʌns.əˈpɑn.əˈtaɪ̯m/
once upon a time adverb: a long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).
Adverb
once upon a time (not comparable)
- A long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).
- Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful princess.
- There was once upon a time a charcoal-burner who had a son, and he was also a charcoal-burner.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 308
- Formerly.
- Long before popular music evolved its many genres and subgenres, the industry was driven by a simple one-size-fits-all philosophy […] Songwriters, once upon a time, wrote songs for the masses.2012, Christoper Zara, chapter 2, in Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, page 51
once upon a time meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
once upon a time in Hindi
- traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- किसी ज़माने में kisī zamāne mẽ
once upon a time in Tamil
- traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- முன்னொரு காலத்தில் muṉṉoru kālattil, முன்னொரு காலத்துல muṉṉoru kālattula
once upon a time in Urdu
- traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- کِسی زَمانے میں kisī zamāne mẽ
once upon a time in Bengali
- traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- একদা ekoda
More languagesFewer languages
- once upon a time in Telugu
- ఒకానొకప్పుడు okānokappuḍu, అనగనగా anaganagā
- once upon a time in Malayalam
- ഒരിക്കൽ orikkal, പണ്ടൊരിക്കൽ paṇṭorikkal
- once upon a time in Kannada
- ಒಂದಾನೊಂದು ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ, ಬಹುಹಿಂದೆ
- once upon a time in Sanskrit
- पुराकाले purākāle, कदाचित् kadācit
- once upon a time in Sinhala
- එකෝමත් එක කාලෙක ekōmat eka kāleka
- once upon a time in Tagalog
- noong unang panahon
- once upon a time in Arabic
- كَان يَامَا كَان kān yāmā kān
- once upon a time in Malay
- pada suatu masa, pada suatu hari
- once upon a time in Indonesian
- pada suatu hari, pada zaman dahulu
- once upon a time in Thai
- กาลครั้งหนึ่ง gaa-lá-kráng-nʉ̀ng
- once upon a time in Vietnamese
- ngày xửa ngày xưa
Synonyms of once upon a time
Questions about once upon a time
- What does once upon a time mean?
- Once upon a time means a long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).
- What is once upon a time in Hindi?
- Once upon a time in Hindi is किसी ज़माने में (kisī zamāne mẽ). See Once upon a time meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is once upon a time?
- Once upon a time is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce once upon a time?
- Once upon a time is pronounced /ˈwʌns.əˈpɑn.əˈtaɪ̯m/.
Words near once upon a time in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: once upon a time (page history and authors); once upon a time (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-once upon a time.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-once upon a time.wav.
Cite this entry: “once upon a time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/once_upon_a_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.