平日
píngrì
In Chinese, the term for weekday is 平日 (píngrì). Wiktionary also lists 平常日 (píngchángrì).
Meaning: day of the week, excluding weekends (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 平日 | píngrì |
| 平常日 | píngchángrì |
The term 平日 refers to a day of the week excluding weekends. In professional, administrative or business contexts, the term 工作日 is more common to specifically denote a working day.
Which one should you use?
平日 is typically used to contrast regular days (such as school or work days) with weekends or holidays. In contrast, 工作日 is used specifically to refer to business or working days.
How does it change in a sentence?
If you need to specify the specific range of weekdays, you can use the phrase 周一至周五 to mean Monday through Friday.
How do you pronounce it?
píngrì
Did you know?
- Depending on the region, you might hear 周 (zhōu), 星期 (xīngqī), or 礼拜 (lǐbài) used to denote the week. The term 礼拜 specifically carries a religious origin, deriving from the word for 'worship'.
- The character 平 in 平日 literally means 'flat' or 'level' and is used to describe the unremarkable nature of a day without a holiday.
- In digital calendars, weekdays are often reduced to single numbers like 一 for Monday, while Sunday is marked by the character 日 for 'sun' or 'day'.
Examples in context
- 明天是工作日，我需要去办公室。Tomorrow is a weekday, I need to go to the office.
- 平日里，我喜欢读书和散步。On weekdays, I like to read and take walks.
- 平常我喜欢跟朋友一起打篮球。On weekdays, I like to play basketball with my friends.
- 我常常在平日去图书馆学习I often go to the library to study on weekdays.
- 我平日都在家工作。Wǒ píngrì dōu zài jiā gōngzuò.I work from home on weekdays.
- 平日的交通非常擁擠。Píngrì de jiāotōng fēicháng yōngjǐ.Traffic is very crowded on weekdays.
- 這家店在平日營業。Zhè jiā diàn zài píngrì yíngyè.This shop is open on weekdays.
Example conversation
志强 and 雨婷 are discussing their schedules.
- 志强 Zhiqiang你平日都很忙嗎？Nǐ píngrì dōu hěn máng ma?Are you busy on weekdays?
- 雨婷 Yuting是的，我平日都要加班。Shì de, wǒ píngrì dōu yào jiābān.Yes, I have to work overtime on weekdays.
- 志强 Zhiqiang那妳週末有空嗎？Nà nǐ zhōumò yǒu kòng ma?Then do you have time on the weekend?
- 雨婷 Yuting我有空，我們去逛街吧。Wǒ yǒu kòng, wǒmen qù guàngjiē ba.I am free, let's go shopping.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “weekday” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
