Days of the week and numbering days

I was doing some SQL Server work the other day and I got to thinking about how we number the weekdays. In the culture where I grew up, Sunday was considered the first day of the week. But in many Asian cultures, Monday is considered the first day of the week. And the names of days in Mandarin reflect that just.

星期 (Xīngqí) means “week” - literally “star period”

And logical as ever, the Chinese then name the days in relation to that:

星期一 (Xīngqí yī) is Monday (i.e. Day # )

星期二 (Xīngqí’èr) is Tuesday (ie. Day #2)

星期三 (Xīngqísān) is Wednesday

星期四 (Xīngqísì) is Thursday

星期五 (Xīngqíwǔ) is Friday

星期六 (Xīngqíliù) is Saturday

Sunday is where it changes a bit:

星期日 (Xīngqírì) is a common version of Sunday. The last character means “day”. And similarly:

星期天 (Xīngqítiān) also means Sunday. The last character again means “day”, but can also relate to concepts like heaven.

There is also another way that these same names can be written.

周 (Zhōu) also means week, and can also be used to name days:

周一 (Zhōuyī) being a shorter way to say Monday.

It’s also commonly used another way:

周末 (Zhōumò) means weekend. And no surprise that the second character means “end”.

2021-02-26