昼休み
hiruyasumi
The English phrase "lunch break" is translated into Japanese as 昼休み (hiruyasumi).
昼休み refers to a period of time during a workday or school day when people stop working to eat lunch. It is a broad term used in both professional office settings and during school hours.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
You can add the honorific prefix お to create お昼休み, which makes the phrase sound more polite and is very common in daily conversation. For more formal situations, 昼食休憩 is used to emphasize the temporary break taken specifically for having lunch, while 昼休憩時間 is used in formal contexts to specify the duration of the break. In casual settings, the English loanword ランチタイム can be used.
How do you pronounce it?
hiruyasumi
Did you know?
- In Japanese schools, 昼休み is often a social ritual where students eat bento boxes together in their classrooms rather than in a separate cafeteria.
- The word for 'noon' inside 昼休み, which is 昼, is also the root for 昼寝, meaning 'a midday nap'. In many environments, taking a quick nap during your 'lunch break' is an socially accepted way to recharge.
- In some older or more traditional companies, the 'lunch break' is actually a time for 'social synchronization'. Rather than everyone eating individually, the team might eat together to maintain group harmony, a concept known as 'wa'.
Examples in context
- お昼休みはいつ？When is your lunch break?This sentence is useful for asking about the timing of a lunch break with 昼休み.Tatoeba #10642317 by small_snow, translation #9681089 by Cabo
- お昼休みは、１時間です。Lunch break is an hour long.This sentence is useful for stating the duration of a lunch break with 昼休み.Tatoeba #10796391 by small_snow, translation #7841469 by shekitten
- 昼休みは30分あります。I have half an hour lunch break.This sentence is useful for mentioning the length of a lunch break with 昼休み.Tatoeba #11623933 by small_snow, translation #11066312 by sundown
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two colleagues are talking in the office.
- 健太 Kenta昼休み、一緒に食べませんか？hiruyasumi, issho ni tabemasen ka?Would you like to have lunch together during the lunch break?
- 結衣 Yuiいいですね。行きましょう。ii desu ne. ikimashou.That sounds good. Let's go.
- 健太 Kenta結衣さんは、何を食べますか？Yui-san wa, nani o tabemasu ka?Yui, what are you going to eat?
- 結衣 Yui今日はコンビニのパンです。kyou wa konbini no pan desu.Today, I'm having bread from the convenience store.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
