夏期休暇　夏季休暇　暑中休暇　夏休み

Question

I just read in a book 暑中休暇 and wondered the difference with the three others, but there is nothing on Google that really explains what the nuance is.

I think 夏休み is like the most general, 暑中休暇 maybe is the most literary (?), and I've only seen the others in 新聞s.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone could give me a real explanation on how to use the four words properly, and if there are english equivalents.

Thanks!

I'm really confused about what you're asking. Is 暑中休暇 the title of a book? From the way you wrote it, that's what it looks like. But, I suspect you mean something else. Are you asking about different ways to say "summer break" and the differences between those expressions? If so, please try to be a bit more explicit. — A.Ellett, Aug 13 '17 at 17:23
Well I don't know how I could be more clear, I saw this word in "kokoro" (natsume soseki), a part of the sentence is : 暑中休暇を利用して海水浴に行った友達 [...]. Anyway, I was just asking what the difference between the four is — Tchang, Aug 13 '17 at 17:35

naruto · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-14 06:17:03Z

夏季休暇 and 夏期休暇 are both common and sound formal. The difference between 夏季 and 夏期 is often not important, but since the kanji 季 means season and the kanji 期 means period, 夏季 tends to be used when the hot climate is important. See: 夏季休暇？　夏期休暇？
夏休み is another very common word, and is relatively colloquial. 夏休み is the default word at elementary school, and it's also common among adults in casual speech.
暑中休暇 is instantly understandable, but uncommon as a set phrase. Maybe some companies are using this term.

1 Answer 1