Workweek and weekend

The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the <a href="/facts/Week/KJjQTKIh">week</a>, devoted to <a href="/facts/Labour_(economics)/RRlxNx0u">labour</a> and <a href="/facts/Leisure/nrFmpKYq">rest</a>, respectively. The legal weekdays (<a href="/facts/British_English/ymJR5Rnd">British English</a>), or workweek (<a href="/facts/American_English/sdAfgPgM">American English</a>), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from <a href="/facts/Monday/QK6BbmH4">Monday</a> to <a href="/facts/Friday/UdAEfqkh">Friday</a> and the weekend is <a href="/facts/Saturday/m85ekHzH">Saturday</a> and <a href="/facts/Sunday/lUmoQM0d">Sunday</a>. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of <a href="/facts/Education/WIwsQKF9">education</a>. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week (e.g., commencing after 5:00 p.m. on Friday and lasting until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday). Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week.
Weekdays and workdays can be further detailed in terms of <a href="/facts/Working_time/9bWU3keX">working time</a>, the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor.
In many Christian traditions, Sunday is the "<a href="/facts/Lord%27s_Day/A7nl284w">day of rest and worship</a>". The <a href="/facts/Judaism/tjQ5Tgs6">Jewish</a> <a href="/facts/Shabbat/pp5wb0JM">Shabbat</a> or <a href="/facts/Biblical_Sabbath_(Hebrew)/43eb99kM">Biblical Sabbath</a> lasts from sunset on Friday to the fall of full darkness on Saturday; as a result, the weekend in Israel is observed on Friday to Saturday. Some Muslim-majority countries historically instituted a Thursday–Friday weekend. Today, many of these countries, in the interests of furthering business trade and cooperation, have shifted to Friday–Saturday or Saturday–Sunday.
The <a href="/facts/Lord%27s_Day/A7nl284w">Christian day of worship</a> is just one day each week, but the preceding day (the Jewish Sabbath) came to be taken as a <a href="/facts/Holiday/kM9E3s9q">holiday</a> as well in the 20th century. This shift has been accompanied by a reduction in the total number of hours worked per week. The present-day concept of the "weekend" first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early 19th century. A day off is a non-working day, not necessarily on weekends.
Some countries have adopted a six-day workweek and one-day weekend (6×1), which can be Friday only (in <a href="/facts/Djibouti/77jY0eII">Djibouti</a>, <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>, <a href="/facts/Somalia/3wQYwIdS">Somalia</a> and <a href="/facts/Libya/HMPH8PWR">Libya</a>), Saturday only (in <a href="/facts/Nepal/yWCzTBR2">Nepal</a>), or Sunday only (in <a href="/facts/Mexico/IT5bwhdh">Mexico</a>, <a href="/facts/Colombia/nl7r8Q2u">Colombia</a>, <a href="/facts/Uganda/PabdegRm">Uganda</a>, <a href="/facts/Eritrea/tuhgQTdR">Eritrea</a>, <a href="/facts/India/1kKHcnxM">India</a>, <a href="/facts/Philippines/ARpmxXQV">Philippines</a>, and <a href="/facts/Equatorial_Guinea/ARkq2P4f">Equatorial Guinea</a>). However, most countries have adopted a five-day workweek and two-day weekend (5×2), whose days differ according to religious tradition: Friday and Saturday (in 17 Muslim countries and <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>); Saturday and Sunday (most of the countries); or Friday and Sunday (in <a href="/facts/Brunei/dyz9JUn8">Brunei Darussalam</a>, <a href="/facts/Aceh/IpUqEgot">Aceh</a> province (Indonesia) and state of <a href="/facts/Sarawak/jLxI3WQo">Sarawak</a> (Malaysia), with the previous evening post-work often considered part of the weekend. Proposals continue to be put forward to reduce the number of days or hours worked per week, such as the <a href="/facts/Four-day_workweek/D9VK6Y53">four-day workweek</a>, on the basis of predicted social and economic benefits.

Workweek and weekend open-in-new

Workweek and weekend