# journal

Pronunciation: say "JUR-nuhl" US /ˈd͡ʒɝnəl/, UK /ˈd͡ʒɜːnəl/

## Noun

1. A magazine or newspaper that covers a particular subject or field.
   - Simple: A magazine or newspaper about one special subject.
   - _He subscribes to a trade journal for the construction industry._
   - _Her research finally appeared in a respected scientific journal._
2. A daily record of events kept by a person, an organization, or a ship's crew.
   - Simple: A book where you write down what happens each day.
   - _The captain's journal logged the vessel's position and the crew's daily duties._
   - _Each evening she filled a page of her journal with the day's small victories._
5. The part of a shaft or axle that rests in and turns within a bearing.
   - Simple: The part of a turning rod or axle that sits inside the part that supports it.
   - _Friction heated the journal where it pressed against the worn bearing._
   - _Engineers measured the journal to confirm it still fit the bearing snugly._
7. A time-ordered record of changes to a database or computer system, used to recover after a failure or restore an earlier state.
   - Simple: A record of changes to a database or computer system, used to recover after failures or undo changes.
   - _After the outage, administrators replayed the journal to bring the database back to its last good state._
   - _Each write to the database is appended to the journal before it is committed._
8. In bookkeeping, the book or record in which transactions are first entered in the order they happen, before being posted to the ledger.
   - Simple: In accounting, a book where every payment and sale is written down first, in the order it happens.
   - _The bookkeeper recorded each receipt in the journal before closing the month._
   - _Auditors traced every payment back to an entry in the journal._

## Verb

3. To keep a personal diary, recording one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences in it regularly, often as a practice of reflection.
   - Simple: To write often in a diary about your thoughts, feelings, and what happens to you.
   - _Many therapists suggest that patients journal for ten minutes each morning._
   - _She has journaled almost every day since college, filling a notebook a month._
6. To enter something in a record or log so that it is kept for later reference.
   - Simple: To save or write down information so you can find it later.
   - _The system journals each transaction to a secure log._
   - _Many file systems journal pending changes before they write them to disk, so a crash leaves nothing half done._
4. To create a decorative personal record by combining writing, photos, and mementos on a page.
   - Simple: To make a creative book of photos, notes, and decorations about your life.
   - _On quiet evenings they journal with photos, ribbons, and handwritten notes._
   - _She journaled the entire summer, filling pages with pressed flowers and ticket stubs._

## Adjective

9. Occurring each day; daily. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Happening every day.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To fit a shaft or axle into a journal bearing so that it can turn.
- (noun) A measure of land equal to the area one worker can cultivate in a single day.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6–9** — Latin diurnus ("of the day") gave diurnālis, which became Old French jornel ("day") and then Anglo-Norman jurnal ("daily"), the source of Middle English journal. It is a doublet of diurnal.
**Meaning 5** — No one knows where this comes from, though it seems to be Scots. One guess is chirnel, from English kernel ("lump in the flesh"), because of the similar shape.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/journal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).