weekend
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From week + end. Originally a Northern England regionalism (see 1903 quotation), in more general use from late 19th century.[1][2] Compare Saterland Frisian Wiekeneende (“weekend”), West Frisian wykein (“weekend”), Dutch weekeinde (“weekend”), German Low German Wekenenn (“weekend”), German Wochenende (“weekend”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /wiːˈkɛnd/, /ˈwiːˌkɛnd/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈwiˌkɛnd/
- (New Zealand, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈwiːˌkend/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnd, -iːkɛnd
- Homophone: weakened (some accents)
Noun
weekend (plural weekends)
- The break in the working week, usually two days including the traditional holy or sabbath day. Thus in western countries, Saturday and Sunday.
- 1874 July–December, W. Senior, “With the Herring Fleet”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, page 704:
- “They can live upon barley-meal without a morsel of meat from week-end to week-end, can these miserable Sawnies,” quoth another.
- 1903, Francis Markham with Sir Clements Robert Markham, Recollections of a town boy at Westminster, 1849–1855, page 34:
- […] often took a few boys down there for what we North Country folk call the week-end — Saturday and Sunday; it was also used as a sanatorium if required.
- 1921 June 21, The Earl of Oxford and Asquith, K.G., chapter XX, in Memories and Reflections 1852–1927, volume 2, Cassell and Company, published 1928, →OCLC, page 197:
- I love a phrase of Dizzy's in one of his later letters to Lady Bradford, whom he reproaches for her addiction to what we now call week-end visits to country houses: “the monotony of organized platitude.”
Usage notes
- Historically in North America and parts of Europe, people would often work on Saturday as well, or at least until noon on Saturday. Thus the “weekend” might begin at noon or later on Saturday in older texts.
To describe the soonest upcoming weekend:
- (UK, Australia, New Zealand) “at the weekend”, “on the weekend”, “this weekend”, “for the weekend”
- 1886, New Zealand Parliament, “Parliamentary debates”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 324, page 2371:
- Let them work at their ordinary jobs during the week, and then take them out of circulation at the weekend, which is usually the time when the trouble is ...
- 2009, Great Britain House of Commons: Business and Enterprise Committee, “Pre-appointment Hearing with the Chairman-elect of Ofcom, Dr. Colette Bowe”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 16:
- Whether it is on the BBC, ITV or commercial radio does not really matter. ...can give you a radio example of two things I was listening to at the weekend.
- (US, Canada) “on the weekend”, “this weekend”, “for the weekend” (“at the weekend” is not used)
- 2002, United States Senate: Committee on Armed Services, Department of Defense authorization for appropriations for fiscal year 2002, page 722:
- I am going to Moscow on the weekend to participate in the discussion, ...
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Arabic: ويكند
- → Armenian: վիքենդ (vikʻend)
- → Czech: víkend
- → Danish: weekend
- → French: weekend
- → Georgian: უიკენდი (uiḳendi)
- → German: Wochenende (calque)
- → Hungarian: víkend
- → Italian: weekend
- → Macedonian: викенд (vikend)
- → Dutch: weekend
- → Polish: weekend
- → Romanian: weekend
- → Russian: уик-энд (uik-end)
- → Serbo-Croatian: vìkend
- → Slovak: víkend
- → Swedish: weekend
Translations
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Verb
weekend (third-person singular simple present weekends, present participle weekending, simple past and past participle weekended)
- To spend the weekend.
- We'll weekend at the beach.
Adjective
weekend (not comparable)
- Of, relating to or for the weekend.
- I'm wearing my weekend shoes.
- Occurring at the weekend.
- a weekend break
Translations
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References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “weekend”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ weekend, week-end at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
Further reading
Danish
Etymology
Borrowed from English weekend.
Displaced native Danish helg (“holiday, weekend”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈʋiːˌɡ̊ɛnˀd̥], [ˈwiːˌɡ̊ɛnd̥]
Noun
weekend c (singular definite weekenden, plural indefinite weekender)
Inflection
common gender |
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | weekend | weekenden | weekender | weekenderne |
genitive | weekends | weekendens | weekenders | weekendernes |
See also
- weekend on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia da
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English weekend.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʋikɛnt/
Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: week‧end
Noun
weekend n (plural weekenden or weekends, diminutive weekendje n)
Synonyms
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English weekend.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wi.kɛnd/
Audio: (file)
Noun
weekend m (plural weekends)
- post-1990 spelling of week-end
- Synonym: fin de semaine
Italian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English weekend.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wiˈkɛnd/[1]
- Rhymes: -ɛnd
Noun
weekend m (invariable)
- weekend
- Synonym: fine settimana
References
- ^ week-end in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English weekend.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwi.kɛnt/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ikɛnt
- Syllabification: wee‧kend
Noun
weekend m inan (related adjective weekendowy)
- weekend (break in the working week)
- Synonym: dwudzionek
Declension
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | weekend | weekendy |
genitive | weekendu | weekendów |
dative | weekendowi | weekendom |
accusative | weekend | weekendy |
instrumental | weekendem | weekendami |
locative | weekendzie | weekendach |
vocative | weekendzie | weekendy |
Derived terms
- weekendowicz
- weekendować impf
Related terms
Further reading
- weekend in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- weekend in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Romanian
Alternative forms
- week-end — dated
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English weekend. First attested in 1970.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈuj.kend/, /ˈwi.kend/
- Hyphenation: week‧end
- Rhymes: -ujkend, -ikend
Noun
weekend n (plural weekenduri)
Declension
singular | plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | ||
nominative-accusative | weekend | weekendul | weekenduri | weekendurile | |
genitive-dative | weekend | weekendului | weekenduri | weekendurilor | |
vocative | weekendule | weekendurilor |
References
- “weekend”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025
Swedish
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wiːk.ɛnd/, /viːk.ɛnd/
Noun
weekend c
- a weekend (break in the working week)
Declension
nominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | weekend | weekends |
definite | weekenden | weekendens | |
plural | indefinite | weekender | weekenders |
definite | weekenderna | weekendernas |