Meanings
week1
plural weeks · alternative obsolete weeke
- Any period of seven consecutive days.
Holonyms: megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
3 more examples
Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day, weekday < weekend
Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 01 May 2024, page 68Some of the same areas hit by tornadoes just a little over a week ago are expecting severe storms again Monday afternoon and evening.
2024 May 5, Allison Chinchar, “Multiday severe weather threat could continue tornado streak this week”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 May 2024Synonyms: sevennight, sennight, hebdomad
- A period of five days beginning with Monday.
- following a named dayA date seven days after (sometimes before) the specified day.
The wedding is tomorrow week. [a week tomorrow, i.e. in eight days' time]
1 more example
I'll see you Thursday week. [a week on Thursday, i.e. Thursday after next]
week2
- The squeal of a pig.
And ho, ho, ho, went Mister Pig, and week, week, week, went she; […]
1837, William Evans Burton, Burton's Comic Songster, page 2291 more example
[…] his head came a-top of one of a litter of young pigs that happened at that moment to be foraging about: week! week! week! week! week! cried little piggy.
1848, The Garland, Or, Token of Friendship, page 231
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny period of seven consecutive days.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna period of seven consecutive days (usually reckoned to be from Sunday to Saturday, or from Monday to Sunday)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
week · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*weyg-
- Proto-Germanic*wikǭ
- Proto-West Germanic*wikā
- Old Englishwice
- Middle Englishwyke
- Englishweek
From Middle English wyke, weke, from Old English wice, wucu (“week”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg-, *weyk- (“to bend, curve”). Related to weak and dialectal English wick (“corner”); see Proto-Germanic *wīk(w)aną (“to bend, yield, cease”). Cognates Cognate with Scots ouk, oulk (“week”), Yola wick, wik (“week”), North Frisian waag, Week, weg (“week”), Saterland Frisian Wiek, Wíek (“week”), West Frisian wike (“week”), Bavarian Wochn (“week”), Cimbrian boch, bòcha (“week”), Dutch week (“week”), German Woche (“week”), German Low German Week (“week”), Limburgish waek, Wéëk (“week”), Luxembourgish Woch (“week”), Mòcheno boch (“week”), Vilamovian woch (“week”), Yiddish וואָך (vokh, “week”), Danish uge (“week”), Elfdalian wiku, wikå (“week”), Faroese and Icelandic vika (“week”), Jamtish vuku (“week”), Norwegian Bokmål uke (“week”), Norwegian Nynorsk veke, vika, viku, vukku, vuku (“week”), Scanian uga (“week”), Swedish vecka (“week”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “sequence; week”); also Cornish gwigh (“periwinkles, whelks”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“alteration, turn; time”), Ancient Greek εἴκω (eíkō, “to yield”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Northern Kurdish avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, hurl, throw”), Persian آویختَن (âvixtan, “to hang, suspend”), بیختن (bēxtan / bixtan, “to sieve, sift”). Related also to Old English wīcan (“to yield, give way”), English weak and wick.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans week
- weekperiod of seven days
Ancient Greek ἑβδομάς
- ἑβδομάς (hebdomás)period of seven days
Arabic أُسْبُوع, جُمْعَة
- أُسْبُوع (ʔusbūʕ)period of seven days
- جُمْعَة (jumʕa)period of seven days
- اسبوع (ʔesbūʕ)period of seven days
- إسبوع (ʔisbūʕ)period of seven days
- أُسبوع (ʔusbūʕ)period of seven days
- سيمانة (sīmāna)period of seven days
- أُسبوع (ʔusbūʕ)period of seven days
- جمعة (jamʕa)period of seven days
- جمعة (jimʕa)period of seven days
Basque aste
- asteperiod of seven days
Bengali সপ্তাহ
- সপ্তাহ (śoptaho)period of seven days
Bulgarian се́дмица
- се́дмица (sédmica)period of seven days
Catalan setmana
- setmanaperiod of seven days
Chinese щинчи, чи
- щинчи (xinqi)period of seven days
- чи (qi)period of seven days
- 禮拜 /礼拜 (lé-pài)period of seven days
Chinese Cantonese 星期, 禮拜 /礼拜
- 星期period of seven days
- 禮拜 /礼拜 (lai⁵ baai³)period of seven days
Chinese Mandarin 星期, 週 /周
- 星期 (xīngqī)period of seven days
- 週 /周 (zhōu)period of seven days
- 禮拜 /礼拜 (lǐbài)period of seven days
Czech týden
- týdenperiod of seven days
Danish uge
- ugeperiod of seven days
Dari هَفْتَه
- هَفْتَه (hafta)period of seven days
Dutch week
- weekperiod of seven days
Esperanto semajno
- semajnoperiod of seven days
Estonian nädal
- nädalperiod of seven days
Finnish viikko
- viikkoperiod of seven days
French semaine, huit jours
- semaineperiod of seven days
- huit joursperiod of seven days
German Woche
- Wocheperiod of seven days
Greek εβδομάδα, επταήμερο
- εβδομάδα (evdomáda)period of seven days
- επταήμερο (eptaḯmero)period of seven days
- εφταήμερο (eftaḯmero)period of seven days
Hawaiian pule
- puleperiod of seven days
Hebrew שבוע, שָׁבוּעַ
- שבועperiod of seven days
- שָׁבוּעַ (shavúa)period of seven days
Hindi सप्ताह, हफ़्ता
- सप्ताह (saptāh)period of seven days
- हफ़्ता (haftā)period of seven days
Hungarian hét
- hétperiod of seven days
Icelandic vika
- vikaperiod of seven days
Indonesian minggu, pekan
- mingguperiod of seven days
- pekanperiod of seven days
Iranian Persian هَفْتِه
- هَفْتِه (hafte)period of seven days
Irish seachtain
- seachtainperiod of seven days
Italian settimana
- settimanaperiod of seven days
Japanese 週, 週間
- 週 (shū)period of seven days
- 週間 (shūkan)period of seven days
Korean 주, 주일
- 주 (ju)period of seven days
- 주일 (ju'il)period of seven days
Latin hebdomas, septimāna
- hebdomasperiod of seven days
- septimānaperiod of seven days
Latvian nedēļa
- nedēļaperiod of seven days
Lithuanian savaitė
- savaitėperiod of seven days
Malay minggu, pekan
- mingguperiod of seven days
- pekanperiod of seven days
- jemaatperiod of seven days
- jumaatperiod of seven days
Māori wiki
- wikiperiod of seven days
Norwegian Bokmål uke
- ukeperiod of seven days
Persian هَفْتَه
- هَفْتَه (hafta)period of seven days
Polish tydzień
- tydzieńperiod of seven days
Portuguese semana
- semanaperiod of seven days
Punjabi ਹਫ਼ਤੇ
- ਹਫ਼ਤੇ (hafte)period of seven days
Romanian săptămână
- săptămânăperiod of seven days
Russian неде́ля
- неде́ля (nedélja)period of seven days
Scottish Gaelic seachdain
- seachdainperiod of seven days
Slovak týždeň
- týždeňperiod of seven days
Spanish semana
- semanaperiod of seven days
Swahili wiki, juma
- wikiperiod of seven days
- jumaperiod of seven days
Swedish vecka
- veckaperiod of seven days
Tagalog linggo, semana
- linggoperiod of seven days
- semanaperiod of seven days
Tamil கிழமை, வாரம்
- கிழமை (kiḻamai)period of seven days
- வாரம் (vāram)period of seven days
Thai สัปดาห์, อาทิตย์
- สัปดาห์ (sàp-daa)period of seven days
- อาทิตย์ (aa-tít)period of seven days
- สัตวารperiod of seven days
- สัตตาหperiod of seven days
Turkish hafta, yedil
- haftaperiod of seven days
- yedilperiod of seven days
Ukrainian ти́ждень
- ти́ждень (týždenʹ)period of seven days
Urdu ہَفْتَہ, سَپْتاہ
- ہَفْتَہ (hafta)period of seven days
- سَپْتاہ (saptāh)period of seven days
Vietnamese tuần, tuần lễ
- tuầnperiod of seven days
- tuần lễperiod of seven days
Welsh wythnos
- wythnosperiod of seven days
Yiddish וואָך
- וואָך (vokh)period of seven days
Zulu iviki
- ivikiperiod of seven days
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with week
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
week. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/week
“week.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/week. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “week,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/week.
Source: week on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.