Friday is the day of the week between
Thursday and
Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the
ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth
day of the week.
In most Western countries, Friday is the fifth and final day of the working week. In some other countries, Friday is the first day of the weekend, with Saturday the second.
In
Israel, Friday is the sixth day of the week. In
Iran, Friday is the last day of the weekend, with Saturday as the first day of the working week.
Bahrain, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE),
Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait also followed this convention until they changed to a Friday–Saturday weekend on September 1, 2006, in
Bahrain and the UAE, and a year later in
Kuwait. The UAE changed its weekend from Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday on January 1, 2022.
Etymology
The name ''Friday'' comes from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
', meaning the "day of
Frig
Frig may refer to:
* Frig (Anglo-Saxon goddess), a love goddess in Anglo-Saxon paganism
* Frig (interjection), an English word
* ''Frig'' (film), a French film
* Len Frig
Leonard Elroy Frig (born October 30, 1950) is a Canadian former professio ...
", a result of an old convention associating the Germanic goddess
Frigg with the Roman goddess
Venus, with whom the day is associated in many different cultures. The same holds for ' in
Old High German, ' in Modern
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, and ' in
Dutch.
The expected cognate name in
Old Norse would be '. The name of Friday in Old Norse is ' instead, indicating a loan of the week-day names from
Low German
:
:
:
:
:
(70,000)
(30,000)
(8,000)
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = West Germanic
, fam4 = North Sea Germanic
, ancestor = Old Saxon
, ancestor2 = Middle L ...
; however, the modern
Faroese name is '. The modern Scandinavian form is ' in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
,
Norwegian, and
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
, meaning
Freyja's day.
The distinction between Freyja and Frigg in some Germanic mythologies is contested.
The word for Friday in most
Romance languages is derived from Latin ' or "day of Venus" (a translation of Greek ', ), such as ' in
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, ''venres'' in
Galician, ' in
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, ' in
Corsican, ' in
Italian, ' in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
, and ' in
Spanish and influencing the
Filipino ' or ', and the
Chamorro Chamorro may refer to:
* Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific
* Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas
* Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mari ...
'. This is also reflected in the
p-Celtic Welsh language as '.
An exception is
Portuguese, also a
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
, which uses the word ', meaning "sixth day of liturgical celebration", derived from the Latin ' used in religious texts where it was not allowed to consecrate days to pagan gods. Another exception among the Romance languages is also
Sardinian, in which the word ' is derived from Latin '. This name had been given by the Jewish community exiled to the
island in order to designate the food specifically prepared for
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
eve.
In
Arabic, Friday is ', from a root meaning "congregation/gathering." In languages of Islamic countries outside the Arab world, the word for Friday is commonly a derivation of this: (
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
''Jumaat'' or ''Jumat'' ,
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
',
Persian/
Urdu , ').
In modern
Greek, four of the words for the week-days are derived from ordinals. However, the Greek word for Friday is ' () and is derived from a word meaning "to prepare" (). Like Saturday (, ) and Sunday (, ), Friday is named for its liturgical significance as the day of preparation before
Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
, which was inherited by
Greek Christian Orthodox culture from Jewish practices.
Friday was formerly a
Christian fast day; this is the origin of the
Irish ',
Scottish Gaelic ',
Manx
Manx (; formerly sometimes spelled Manks) is an adjective (and derived noun) describing things or people related to the Isle of Man:
* Manx people
**Manx surnames
* Isle of Man
It may also refer to:
Languages
* Manx language, also known as Manx ...
' and
Icelandic ', all meaning "fast day".
In both biblical and modern
Hebrew, Friday is ' meaning "the sixth day."
In most
Indian languages, Friday is ''Shukravāra'', named for , the planet
Venus. In
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
or ' is the 6th day in the Bengali week of
Bengali Calendar and is the beginning of the weekend in Bangladesh. In Tamil, the word for Friday is ''velli'', also a name for Venus; and in Malayalam it is ''velliyalca''.
In
Japanese, is formed from the words meaning
Venus (lit. gold + planet) and meaning day (of the week).
In the
Korean language, it is in Korean
Hangul writing (
Romanization: '), and is the pronounced form of the written word in Chinese characters, as in Japanese.
In the
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
language, Friday is ' () meaning "day of
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
".
Most
Slavic languages call Friday the "fifth (day)":
Belarusian
Belarusian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Belarus
* Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent
* A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus
* Belarusian language
* Belarusian culture
* Belarusian cuisine
* Byelor ...
– ',
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
– ',
Czech ',
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
',
Russian – ',
Serbo-Croatian – ',
Slovak ',
Slovene ', and
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
– '. The
Hungarian word ' is a loan from
Pannonian
Pannonia may refer to:
In geography:
* Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe
* Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe
* Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain
In h ...
dialect of Slavic language. The n in ' suggests an early adoption from Slavic, when many Slavic dialects still had
nasal vowels. In modern Slavic languages only Polish retained nasal vowels.
Folklore
Friday is considered unlucky in some cultures. This is particularly so in maritime circles; perhaps the most enduring sailing superstition is that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday. In the 19th century, Admiral
William Henry Smyth described Friday in his nautical lexicon ''The Sailor's Word-Book'' as:
(' means "unlucky day".) This superstition is the root of the well-known
urban legend of .
In modern times,
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...
is considered to be especially unlucky, due to the conjunction of Friday with the unlucky number
thirteen
Thirteen or 13 may refer to:
* 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14
* One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013
Music
* 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band
Albums
* ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013
* ...
. Such a Friday may be called a "Black Friday".
However, this superstition is not universal, notably in Scottish Gaelic culture:
In astrology
In
astrology, Friday is connected with the planet
Venus and is symbolized by that planet's symbol
♀. Friday is also associated with the
astrological signs
Libra
Libra generally refers to:
* Libra (constellation), a constellation
* Libra (astrology), an astrological sign based on the star constellation
Libra may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Libra'' (novel), a 1988 novel by Don DeLillo
Musi ...
and
Taurus.
Religious observances
Christianity
In Christianity,
Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
is the Friday before
Easter. It commemorates the
crucifixion of
Jesus. As such, adherents of many Christian denominations including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist and Anglican traditions, observe the
Friday Fast, which traditionally includes abstinence from meat, lacticinia, and alcohol on Fridays of the year.
Traditionally,
Roman Catholics were obliged to
refrain from eating the meat of warm-blooded animals
on Fridays, although
fish was allowed. The
Filet-O-Fish
The Filet-O-Fish is a fish sandwich (or burger) sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was created in 1962 by Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in Cincinnati, Ohio, in response to falling hamburger sales on ...
was invented in 1962 by
Lou Groen Lou may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Personal name
* Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Lou (German singer)
*Lou (French singer)
* Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China
* Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most common ...
, a
McDonald's franchise owner in
Cincinnati, Ohio,
in response to falling hamburger sales on Fridays resulting from the
Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays.
In the present day,
episcopal conferences are now authorized to allow some other form of penance to replace abstinence from meat. The
1983 Code of Canon Law
The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current comp ...
states:
:Canon 1250. The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
:Canon 1251. Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...
and
Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
.
:Canon 1253. The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
The
Book of Common Prayer prescribes weekly Friday fasting and abstinence from meat for all
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
s.
In
Methodism, the Directions Given to Band Societies (25 December 1744) mandate for all Methodists
fasting and abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church continues to observe Fridays (as well as Wednesdays) as
fast day
Fast Day was a holiday observed in some parts of the United States between 1670 and 1991.
"A day of public fasting and prayer," it was traditionally observed in the New England states. It had its origin in days of prayer and repentance proclai ...
s throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year). Fasting on Fridays entails
abstinence
Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc.
...
from meat or meat products (i.e., quadrupeds),
poultry, and
dairy products (as well as fish). Unless a
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
occurs on a Friday, the Orthodox also abstain from using oil in their cooking and from alcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves all
cooking oil
Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil. ...
or only
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
). On particularly important feast days, fish may also be permitted. For the Orthodox, Fridays throughout the year commemorate the
Crucifixion of Christ and the (
Mother of God), especially as she stood by the foot of the cross. There are
hymns in the which reflect this liturgically. These include ' (hymns to the Mother of God) which are chanted on Wednesdays and Fridays called ' ("Cross-"). The
dismissal
Dismissal or dismissed may refer to:
Dismissal
*In litigation, a dismissal is the result of a successful ''motion to dismiss''. See motion
*Termination of employment, the end of employee's duration with an employer
**Dismissal (employment), ter ...
at the end of services on Fridays begins with the words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."
Quakers traditionally referred to Friday as "Sixth Day," eschewing the
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
origins of the name. In Slavic countries, it is called "Fifth Day" ( pl, piątek, russian: пятница, ').
Hinduism
The day is named after the Shukracharya, son of
Bhrigu
Bhrigu ( sa, भृगु, ) was a rishi in Hinduism. He was one of the seven great sages, the Saptarshis, one of the many Prajapatis (the facilitators of Creation) created by Brahma. The first compiler of predictive astrology, and also th ...
and
Kavyamata (Usana). In
Hinduism, special observances are practiced for mother goddesses on Friday. Fridays are important for married ladies. They worship Goddesses on that day.
Islam
In
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Friday (from sun-down Thursday to sun-down Friday, simpler than midnight to midnight in a pre-clock age) is the day of communion, of praying together, often mistaken as the holy day of Muslims corresponding to Sunday in Christianity and Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening) in Judaism and
Sabbatarian Christianity; yet the seventh day is the holy day of contemplation and rest also for Muslims, as it is called – Al-sabt – السبت in Arabic - the Sabbath. Friday observance includes attendance at a mosque for congregation prayer or Salat AlJumu'ah. It is considered a day of peace and mercy (see
Jumu'ah) as well as a day of rest.
According to some Islamic traditions, the day is stated to be the
original holy day ordained by God, but that now Jews and Christians recognize the days after. In some
Islamic countries, the week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday, just like the Jewish week and the week in some Christian countries. The week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday in most other Islamic countries, such as
Somalia, and
Iran. Friday is also the day of rest in the
Baháʼí Faith.
In some
Malaysian states, Friday is the first week-end day, with Saturday the second, to allow Muslims to perform their religious obligations on Friday. Sunday is the first working day of the week for
governmental organizations.
Muslims are recommended not to
fast
Fast or FAST may refer to:
* Fast (noun), high speed or velocity
* Fast (noun, verb), to practice fasting, abstaining from food and/or water for a certain period of time
Acronyms and coded Computing and software
* ''Faceted Application of Subje ...
on a Friday by itself (''
makruh'', recommended against, but not ''
haram'', religiously forbidden), unless it is accompanied with fasting the day before (Thursday) or day after (Saturday), or it corresponds with days usually considered good for fasting (i.e.
Day of Arafah or
Ashura
Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the ...
), or it falls within one's usual religious fasting habits (i.e. fasting every other day), then it's completely permissible.
Muslims believe Friday as "Syed-ul-Ayyam" meaning King of days. A narration in
Sahih Muslim describes the importance of Friday as follows.
"Abu Huraira reported the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) as saying: The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it, Adam was created. on it he was made to enter Paradise, on it he was expelled from it. And the last hour will take place on no day other than Friday.
(
Sahih Muslim Book 7, Hadith 27)”
The Quran also has a sura (chapter) called
Al-Jumu'ah (The Friday).
Judaism
Jewish Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
begins at sunset on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday. There is a Jewish custom to fast on the Friday of the week of
Chukat.
Thailand
In
Thailand, the color associated with Friday is blue (see
Thai calendar
In Thailand, two main calendar systems are used alongside each other: the Thai solar calendar, based on the Gregorian calendar and used for official and most day-to-day purposes, and the Thai lunar calendar (a version of the Buddhist calendar, t ...
).
Named days
*
Black Friday refers to any one of several historical disasters that happened on Fridays, and, in a general sense, to any Friday the thirteenth.
**In the United States,
Black Friday is also the nickname of the day after
Thanksgiving, the first day of the traditional
Christmas shopping season.
*
Casual Friday
Casual Friday (also known as dress-down Friday or casual day) is a Western dress code trend in which businesses relax their dress code on Fridays. Businesses that usually require employees to wear suits, dress shirts, neckties, and dress shoes, ...
(also called Dress-down, Aloha or Country and Western Friday) is a relaxation of the formal
dress code employed by some
corporations for the last day of the working week.
*
Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
is the Friday before
Easter in the Christian
liturgical calendar. It commemorates the crucifixion of
Jesus.
Other
*
Greta Thunberg's ''
School strike for climate'' usually occurs on Fridays, and the movement is also called ''Fridays for Future''.
*
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster celebrates every Friday as a holy day.
See also
*
ISO 8601
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
5 Friday
Aphrodite