journées

Journée is a French noun that denotes a 24-hour day conceived as a period, or the daylight portion of a day. It can also refer to a working day or to a day devoted to a specific activity. In everyday language, the plural journées is used to speak of several days or of longer stretches of daytime, as in toute la journée or pendant les journées d’été.

The word originates in Old French jornée, which derives from Latin diurnata, related to diurnus, meaning daily or of the day. Over time, journée came to emphasize the span of time and the activities that occupy that span, rather than simply marking a calendar date.

Journée differs from jour, which marks a calendar day or a moment in time, by emphasizing duration and lived experience within the day. It is frequently paired with adjectives or phrases such as entière, typique, or durant la journée to express the idea of the entire day or daytime hours spent on something. Common expressions include bonne journée (have a good day), la journée entière (the whole day), and pendant la journée (during the day).

In usage, journée appears in contexts such as schedules, itineraries, and descriptions of work or events. It can denote a day of activity within a sequence, such as les journées du festival or les journées de solidarité, capturing the notion of a day’s worth of happenings rather than a mere date.

See also: jour, diurne, calendrier, période.