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祭日

Festival Day


Meaning

Festival Day, National Holiday

Word Type

noun, の adjective

Explanation

A festival day is obviously a festival day. This word technically refers to days for Shinto festivals or rituals, but sometimes people also use it to mean a general national holiday. This is because some of the Japanese national holidays are based on those traditional Shinto festival days!


Reading

さいじつ

Explanation

This is a jukugo word that uses the on'yomi readings of the kanji. You should be able to read this on your own.


Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 祭日に行う

    to carry out on a national holiday

    祭日になる

    to become a national holiday

    祭日に当たる

    to fall on a national holiday

  • 祭日はいそがしい

    national holidays are busy

    祭日は休み

    closed on national holidays

    祭日は人が多い

    crowded on a national holiday

Context Sentences

今日は祭日だからいつものカフェがお休みだったよ。

Today is a national holiday, so the coffee shop I usually go to was closed.

祭日なのに、仕事なの?

Do you have to work even though it's a national holiday?

祭日だってことを忘れていて、会社に来てしまった。

I forgot it was a holiday and I came to the office.


Kanji Composition