全休

• Reading: ぜんきゅう
• Romaji: zenkyū
• Kanji breakdown: 全 (all/complete) + 休 (rest/day off) → completely free day
• Pronunciation: /zeɴ.kjɯː/

Meaning

A day with zero scheduled classes — the holy grail of university timetable planning.

全休 is the dream of every university student: a weekday with no classes at all. Students strategically plan their course schedules (履修登録) to create 全休 days, treating it as a game of optimisation. Having a 全休 on Friday effectively creates a three-day weekend, making it especially prized. The ability to create 全休 days is considered a mark of clever scheduling.

Examples

1. 金曜全休だから木曜の夜から遊べるよ。 Friday is my free day, so I can go out starting Thursday night.
2. 来学期は絶対全休の日を作りたい。 Next semester I'm definitely making a day with no classes.
3. 月曜全休にしたら週末が3日になって最高。 I made Monday a free day, so now my weekend is three days long — it's amazing.

Usage Guide

Context: university, friends, schedule planning

Tone: excited, boastful

Do Say

• 水曜全休にできた！ (I managed to make Wednesday a free day!)
• 全休の日は昼まで寝てる。 (On my free days I sleep till noon.)

Don't Say

• 就活の面接で「全休が多い時間割にしました」はNG (Telling a job interviewer you prioritised free days in your schedule is a bad look)

Common Mistakes

• Using 全休 for weekends or holidays — it specifically means a weekday with no scheduled classes, not a regular day off

Origin & History

Abbreviation of 全日休み (all-day off). Became standard university slang as students began actively optimising their timetables, especially widespread from the 2000s onward.

Cultural Context

Era: 2000s onward, tied to flexible university course registration systems

Generation: University students

Social background: Universal among Japanese university students

Regional notes: Used at universities across Japan. Some students boast about having multiple 全休 days per week.