Ways to say it
| Japanese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| 平日 | hirabi | [çiɾa̠bʲi] (narrow) [he̞ːʑit͡sɨ] (narrow) |
| ウィークデー | wīkudē | |
| 週日 | shūjitsu | [ɕɨːʑit͡sɨ] (narrow) |
The term 平日 is the most common and natural way to refer to weekdays in both daily conversation and business contexts. It is frequently used in contrast to 休日, which refers to holidays or rest days, including weekends.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 平日 consists of the kanji 平, meaning flat or ordinary and 日, meaning day, literally translating to 'ordinary day'.
Which one should you use?
平日 is the standard term for a weekday. ウィークデー is a transliteration of the English word 'weekday' and is primarily used in modern or technical contexts, such as software settings. 週日 is another form for weekday.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
平日 is the standard and most common term. In professional business environments, if you specifically mean days when a business or office is open or operational, you may use 営業日. ウィークデー is a loanword used in specific technical or modern settings.
How do you pronounce it?
hirabi
Did you know?
- The pronunciation of the second character in 平日 changes from hi to bi due to a linguistic phenomenon called rendaku. This means the word is pronounced heibi rather than a literal combination of its two parts.
- The kanji 平 in 平日 describes the weekday as 'flat'. This suggests that the work week is viewed as a level baseline of existence in contrast to the 'peaks' of holidays.
- While 平日 means 'weekday', the same kanji characters were historically borrowed from Middle Chinese. This reflects the deep influence of Chinese administrative and calendar systems on the development of the Japanese language.
Examples in context
- 会議は平日に行われます。The meeting will take place on a weekday.
- 当社の営業日は月曜日から金曜日までです。Our business days are from Monday to Friday.
- 平日はいつも忙しい。I'm always busy on weekdays.
- 平日は仕事がとても忙しいです。Heijitsu wa shigoto ga totemo isogashii desu.I am very busy with work on weekdays.
- 平日の午後は静かですね。Heijitsu no gogo wa shizuka desu ne.Weekday afternoons are quiet, aren't they?
- 平日に買い物へ行きます。Heijitsu ni kaimono e ikimasu.I go shopping on weekdays.
Example conversation
Two siblings are discussing their schedule for the week.
- 陽太 Yota陽葵、平日は空いてる？Himari, heijitsu wa aiteru?Himari, are you free on weekdays?
- 陽葵 Himari平日は学校があるから無理だよ。Heijitsu wa gakko ga aru kara muri dayo.I can't make it because I have school on weekdays.
- 陽太 Yotaじゃあ、週末にしようか。Jaa, shuumatsu ni shiyou ka.Then, shall we do it on the weekend?
- 陽葵 Himariうん、それがいいよ！Un, sore ga ii yo!Yeah, that sounds good!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “weekday” translations and entries 平日, 週日, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 平日, CC BY-SA 4.0.
