# Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday



## jana.bo99

Hello to all,

Again I want to have all 7 days in Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin.

With explanation, please.

Thank you.


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## univerio

Days of the week in Chinese is extremely easy. There are 3 ways to express them but starting from Monday, we count it as "the first day of the week" until Saturday ("the sixth day of the week). Sunday is a bit different. They are as follows:

First way:
星期一 xīngqīyī (Monday)
星期二 xīngqīèr (Tuesday)
星期三 xīngqīsān (Wednesday)
星期四 xīngqīsì (Thursday)
星期五 xīngqīwǔ (Friday)
星期六 xīngqīliù (Saturday)
*星期日 xīngqīrì (Sunday)*

Second way:
礼拜一 lǐbàiyī (Monday)
礼拜二 lǐbàièr (Tueday)
etc... (follow the pattern)
礼拜六 lǐbàiliù (Saturday)
*礼拜天 lǐbàitiān (Sunday)*

Last way:
周一 zhōuyī (Monday)
周二 zhōuèr (Tueday)
etc... (follow the pattern)
周六 zhōuliù (Saturday)
*周日 zhōurì (Sunday)*


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## kareno999

星期天is more common than 星期日 in everyday conversations.


univerio said:


> Days of the week in Chinese is extremely easy. There are 3 ways to express them but starting from Monday, we count it as "the first day of the week" until Saturday ("the sixth day of the week). Sunday is a bit different. They are as follows:
> 
> First way:
> 星期一 xīngqīyī (Monday)
> 星期二 xīngqīèr (Tuesday)
> 星期三 xīngqīsān (Wednesday)
> 星期四 xīngqīsì (Thursday)
> 星期五 xīngqīwǔ (Friday)
> 星期六 xīngqīliù (Saturday)
> *星期日 xīngqīrì (Sunday)*
> 
> Second way:
> 礼拜一 lǐbàiyī (Monday)
> 礼拜二 lǐbàièr (Tueday)
> etc... (follow the pattern)
> 礼拜六 lǐbàiliù (Saturday)
> *礼拜天 lǐbàitiān (Sunday)*
> 
> Last way:
> 周一 zhōuyī (Monday)
> 周二 zhōuèr (Tueday)
> etc... (follow the pattern)
> 周六 zhōuliù (Saturday)
> *周日 zhōurì (Sunday)*


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## jana.bo99

Hello univerio and kareno999,

Thank you both for translation.

Good day,
jana.bo


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## Anatoli

The *fourth*, the Japanese way, the Japanese pronunciation is given in square brackets, "ō" is a long "o", not the 1st tone "o":

月耀/曜日 Yuèyàorì Monday, Japanese: [Getsuyōbi], Korean: 월요일 [Woryoil]
火曜日 Huǒyàorì Tuesday, Japanese: [Kayōbi], Korean: 화요일 [Hwayoil]
水曜日 Shuǐyàorì Wednesday, Japanese: [Suiyōbi], Korean: 수요일 [Suyoil]
木曜日 Mùyàorì Thursday, Japanese: [Mokuyōbi], Korean: 목요일 [Mogyoil]
金曜日 Jīnyàorì Friday, Japanese: [Kin'yōbi], Korean: 금요일 [Geumyoil]
土曜日 Tǔyàorì Saturday, Japanese: [Doyōbi], Korean: 토요일 [Toyoil]
* 日曜日 Rìyàorì Sunday, Japanese: [Nichiyōbi], Korean: 일요일 [Iryoil]*

These are not based on numbers but on 月 (moon),  火 (fire),  水 (water), 木 (tree),  金 (gold),  土 (earth),  日 (sun).

I wonder why ABC dictionary has entries for Japanese names of the week. Do these words have any usage in the Chinese culture (mainland, Taiwan, etc.) ? 耀 is variant of 曜, which is not used in Japanese.

EDIT:
According to this site, these modern Japanese and Korean names are the traditional Chinese names for names of the week:
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/calendar.html

Some other site said these were abandoned early in the 20th century. (My guess is, there was some revival in Taiwan later in the 20th century).
EDIT:
added Korean for completeness.


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## glaspalatset

Anatoli said:


> The *fourth*, the Japanese way, the Japanese pronunciation is given in square brackets, "ō" is a long "o", not the 1st tone "o":
> 
> 月耀/曜日 Yuèyàorì Monday, Japanese: [Getsuyōbi], Korean: 월요일 [Woryoil]
> 火曜日 Huǒyàorì Tuesday, Japanese: [Kayōbi], Korean: 화요일 [Hwayoil]
> 水曜日 Shuǐyàorì Wednesday, Japanese: [Suiyōbi], Korean: 수요일 [Suyoil]
> 木曜日 Mùyàorì Thursday, Japanese: [Mokuyōbi], Korean: 목요일 [Mogyoil]
> 金曜日 Jīnyàorì Friday, Japanese: [Kin'yōbi], Korean: 금요일 [Geumyoil]
> 土曜日 Tǔyàorì Saturday, Japanese: [Doyōbi], Korean: 토요일 [Toyoil]
> *日曜日 Rìyàorì Sunday, Japanese: [Nichiyōbi], Korean: 일요일 [Iryoil]*


 
They're not Chinese language per se, but, rather, the Korean/Japanese Chinese characters. (Hanja in Korean, Kanji in Japanese) even though these specific characters don't differ from traditional and simplified Chinese. 

But then, I wonder how many Chinese people understand this way of describing weekdays?


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## jana.bo99

Hello to all,

If I see good: Chinese, Japanese and Corean languages have great similarity.

Thank you for answer.

jana.bo

Note: Discussion on similarities with Japanese and Korean is moved to http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=905058


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## Anatoli

glaspalatset said:


> They're not Chinese language per se, but, rather, the Korean/Japanese Chinese characters. (Hanja in Korean, Kanji in Japanese) even though these specific characters don't differ from traditional and simplified Chinese.
> 
> But then, I wonder how many Chinese people understand this way of describing weekdays?



Thanks, if you follow my description below the table and the link, it's not a modern but an old method and seems that the Japanese and Koreans have borrowed these words from China but the Chinese have abandoned this method early in the 20th century (perhaps as a variant, not a mainstream version of weekdays, possibly used in some regions or by certain groups only).

As for your 2nd question, maybe most Chinese don't understand, since this is now obsolete, hopefully some native speakers will join.


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## Zulis

glaspalatset said:


> They're not Chinese language per se, but, rather, the Korean/Japanese Chinese characters. (Hanja in Korean, Kanji in Japanese) even though these specific characters don't differ from traditional and simplified Chinese.
> 
> But then, I wonder how many Chinese people understand this way of describing weekdays?




Chinese is Chinese, Japanese is Japanese, Korean is Korean.
I don't understand the Japanese way of the weekdays, and never plan to. Even Japanese borrows a lot of Chinese words into their own language, the kanji, the meaning of those Chinese words in Japanese usage (kanji) can be completely different and unrelated to the original meaning in Chinese. I'll give an example : "大丈夫" in Japanese means "Are you ok?", whereas the same "大丈夫" in Chinese means "A man".
I don't read Korean, so I don't understand that either.


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## glaspalatset

Zulis said:


> Chinese is Chinese, Japanese is Japanese, Korean is Korean.
> I don't understand the Japanese way of the weekdays, and never plan to.


 
Gosh, we never expect the Chinese to learn (or even beg to understand) our way of writing those letters!  

But it seems much much easier for us to communicate when it comes to place names, personal names, corporations, etc. because they're all Chinese characters.

Samsung is 三星, Hyundai is 現代, Mitsubishi is 三菱, Honda is 本田,just to name a few.

You see, no other countries (that I know of) other than Korea would do Jackie Chan and Jet Li and Andy Lau and all Chinese people the justice by calling them by Chinese name.


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## Zulis

glaspalatset said:


> Gosh, we never expect the Chinese to learn (or even beg to understand) our way of writing those letters!



I was referring to Japanese, which I have my personal reasons to er...avoid.

I can see that you are from Korea, but as I said I do not know Korean, and I do not know that Koreans call Chinese stars and alike by their Chinese names. I thought the whole world refer them as "Jackie Chan" or "Andy Lau", except the Chinese would call them by their Chinese names 

Sorry if I sound offensive, didn't mean to.


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## Anatoli

You still sound offensive, Zulis, even if you have your reasons (towards Japanese). IMHO, no need to express your attitude to a nation in a linguistic forum.

Although, Japanese is a completely different language, some Japanese words may show what was used in Chinese before or how (very roughly) they were pronounced long time ago, which I find interesting.

I am not Japanese but these days Japanese, unlike Korean (I mean modern Hangul usage) still heavily uses Chinese characters and most Chinese names are written exactly as they are in Chinese (following post-war standards). Some exceptions are made when a character is no longer used in the Japanese character set. Names written this way (in Chinese characters) are usually mispronounced by both sides.

Back to the topic of weekdays. Well, it's neither Japanese or Korean by origin, it's Babylonian, based not on the elements but on the names of the planets:

http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath138.htm
This method WAS used in China for sometime but then became obsolete.

Interesting that the European, e.g. French weekdays are based on the same principle.


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## Zulis

Anatoli said:


> You still sound offensive, Zulis, even if you have your reasons (towards Japanese). IMHO, no need to express your attitude to a nation in a linguistic forum.


Then again I am sorry, but it was very mild, like I don't plan to learn the weekdays in every languages on Earth?

And yes I agree with the method of counting 7 weekdays using planets It is from the West, not from Asia, not China, not Japan, but probably not Babylon. 

I will try my best to explain what I found and believe, do not take it as a lesson, it is only an opinion.

The original Chinese calendar focuses on the relationship between the moon, the earth and the sun, and possibly the Mars too, which we are still using.

If you want to focus on the linguistic aspect, we call Monday in Chinese as 星期一, or 禮拜一. If you break it off, "星期" means the period of stars, "禮拜" means weekly worship. Neither are originated in Asia. 
"禮拜", or weekly worship, is closely related to the Sabbath in the Bible, which on the seventh day no one works. So bascially the concept of "7 days a week" itself came from the West. So "禮拜天" or "禮拜日"  , the day of weekly worship, means Sunday, and the word "日" means day, as well as the sun.

If you look at the Japanese way of weekdays, it is exactly the Western method if using the planetary system for weekdays. 
月(曜日) moon ---- Monday , Old English root: Mona = Moon
火(曜日) mars-----Tuesday,Old English root: Tiwes dæg, "named after the Nordic god Tyr, who was the equivalent of the Roman war god Mars, and Greek god Ares." - wikipedia
水(曜日) mercury---Wednesday, Old English Wēdnes dæg, day of Wodan, Germanic root.
木(曜日) jupiter----Thursday, its name seems to root from Old Norse
金(曜日) venus-----Friday - Old English root: frigedæg, day of Frige, Germanic root
土(曜日) saturn ----SATURday, it came from dies Saturni, day of Saturn, then into Old English : Sæternesdæg 
日(曜日) sun-------SUNday, enough said.

and even more closely related to the French (I know French), and possibly other Latin languages like (those I don't know)Spanish/Itatian/etc.

月(曜日)  月= moon ------------Lundi ---la lune, thats the moon
火(曜日)  火星= planet Mars-----Mardi ---le Mercure, thats Mercury
水(曜日)  水星= planet Mercury--Mercredi, root in Latin, Mercurii dies, French: le Mercure, thats Mercury
木(曜日)  木星 = planet Jupiter---Jeudi, root in Latin: Jovis dies, day of Jupiter
金(曜日)   金星= Venus----------Vendredi - root in Latin: Veneris dies, day of Venus
土(曜日)   土星 = saturn --------Samedi, root in Latin: sambati dies/dies Saturni (I found 2 names associated with this), day of Sabbath/day of Saturn, and it was the Romans who associated this day with the Saturn
日(曜日)   sun------------------Dimanche, root in Latin: Dies dominicus, also the Romans who associate this day with the sun.

Take note that the Japanese weekdays are associated with planets, i.e. 月,火,水,木,金,土, and it means the same thing in Chinese. I agree that it is possible that the Chinese used this kind of method long ago but have already abandoned (since we don't use it now), but the Japanese is still using it. But I don't think it is a Babylonian method though. Nothing I have read that mentioned the Babylonians, but then again, wikipedia will not be 100% correct.

Again, I do not know Korean, so I can't make a similar comparison. People who knows Korean are invited to add something as regard to this.

That's the pattern, in the most simplified form of course, to show that this method of counting weekdays we are using now is not originated in Asia.
But it seems that the Japanese weekdays is more related to the Latin root, rather than the Germanic/Norse root like those in English.

Sources are from wikipedia which I only had a quick glance, on both the English and French version.

Hope this helps to complicate things.


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## jana.bo99

Hello Zulis, 

That was very good explanation for the names of weekdays. 

Maybe would be good for all of us to know Latin language, the root for many languages?

Thank you very much for that.

jana.bo


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## Zulis

jana.bo99 said:


> Hello Zulis,
> 
> That was very good explanation for the names of weekdays.
> 
> Maybe would be good for all of us to know Latin language, the root for many languages?
> 
> Thank you very much for that.
> 
> jana.bo


No problem I was just having too much time in office 
I just copy those from wikipedia


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## popolvuh

Anatoli said:


> Thanks, if you follow my description below the table and the link, it's not a modern but an old method and seems that the Japanese and Koreans have borrowed these words from China but the Chinese have abandoned this method early in the 20th century (perhaps as a variant, not a mainstream version of weekdays, possibly used in some regions or by certain groups only).
> 
> As for your 2nd question, maybe most Chinese don't understand, since this is now obsolete, hopefully some native speakers will join.


 
Hi, I never use "月耀/曜日,火曜日,水曜日,木曜日,金曜日,土曜日,日曜日"to refer to the weekdays. In fact, I think to the most of the Chinese people (almost all of us), these expressions are unfamiliar. Although maybe many years ago our ancestors used them.


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## indigoduck

popolvuh said:


> Hi, I never use "月耀/曜日,火曜日,水曜日,木曜日,金曜日,土曜日,日曜日"to refer to the weekdays. In fact, I think to the most of the Chinese people (almost all of us), these expressions are unfamiliar. Although maybe many years ago our ancestors used them.


 
People who have the free time (like me) can confirm that they were previously used in China. 

Unfortunately, I can only guess that PRC China suffered cultural revolution with the burning of lots of good books.

Fortunately, a lot of these good books were preserved outside of China such as in HK or Taiwan.

日、月、星均称“曜”. 日、月、火、水、木、金、土七个星合称“七曜”. 
旧时分别用来称一个星期的七天，如“日曜日”是星期日，“月曜日”是星期一，其余依次类推.

names of days of weeks assigned to sun, moon and the planets according to pre-modern astronomy.


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