Date Format: Day Month Year
Day–month–year is a legitimate human-readable date order used by some regional and institutional styles. The Australian Government Style Manual uses forms such as “22 July 2024,” while Microsoft’s house style uses month–day–year; choose the convention that matches your audience and style guide.
Day–month–year is valid where your locale or house style calls for it, for example “22 July 2024.” It is not a universal English date order.
Key details
Important caveats
Contrast Boundary
Other house styles differ; Microsoft, for example, specifies month–day–year. Do not present either order as universal English grammar.
Regional Style
The Australian Government Style Manual uses day–month–year in body text and recommends consistency.
Further guidance
Practical Application
Use day–month–year when the target locale or house style specifies that order. Spell the month where clarity across international audiences matters, and do not present the order as universally required in English.
Reader Check
What locale or editorial standard governs the document, and could an all-numeric date such as 03/04/2026 be ambiguous to the intended audience?
Worked Example
In a day–month–year style, write “22 July 2024.” For an international audience, that spelled-month form avoids the ambiguity of a numeric date such as “22/07/2024” or “07/22/2024.”
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Dates and time — Australian Government Style Manual (opens in a new tab)Australian Government Style Manual · Australian Government guidance for day–month–year dates, ordinal dates, decades, centuries, time zones, and en-dash spacing in date/time spans
- Date and time terms — Microsoft Style Guide (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Official Microsoft house-style guidance for dates and times, including date ordering and formatting examples.