Black Friday
English
Etymology
From black (“bad; ill-omened; marked by disaster”). Friday is an ill-omened day according to ancient superstition, so a Friday that was darkened by another ill-omen (such as being the 13th) or an actual disaster became known as "Black Friday". Philadelphia police applied the term to the day after Thanksgiving because the large number of people out shopping made traffic chaotic. Later, PR efforts purposely invented the incorrect, more positive "etymology" (which is a very popular urban legend and false etymology that was even in Wiktionary from 2008 to 2015) that the name was given because this day is supposedly the first day of the year on which retailers typically posted profits ('in the black') rather than losses ('in the red').[1]
Proper noun
Black Friday (plural Black Fridays)
- Synonym of Friday the thirteenth (“a Friday falling on the 13th day of the month (and therefore doubly ill-omened)”).
- (possibly obsolete) Good Friday.
- Any Friday literally or figuratively darkened by catastrophe, or the anniversary thereof.
- (Internet slang, poker, historical) The conclusion of United States v. Scheinberg in 15 April 2011, after which major online poker sites stopped offering real money play to their United States customers.
- (US, Canada, UK, business, retailing) The day after US Thanksgiving Day, generally regarded as the first day of the Christmas season, and the busiest shopping day of the year. Observed in the US, Canada, and more recently to an extent, the UK.
- Coordinate term: Cyber Monday
- (by extension) The sales period involving heavy price reductions immediately following US Thanksgiving Day, from Friday (the original Black Friday) through Monday (Cyber Monday).
Coordinate terms
Translations
|
|
See also
References
- ^ The Origins of "Black Friday" on the website of the Visual Thesaurus
French
Etymology
From English Black Friday (“day after US Thanksgiving Day”).
Pronunciation
Noun
Black Friday m (uncountable)
- Synonym of vendredi fou: Black Friday
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English Black Friday.
Pronunciation
Noun
Black Friday f or (less common) m (plural Black Fridays)
- (retailing, advertising) Black Friday (period with widespread discounts after the fourth Tuesday of November)
- Synonym: (uncommon) Sexta-Feira Negra
Derived terms
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English Black Friday.
Noun
Black Friday m (plural Black Fridays)
Swedish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English Black Friday.
Noun
- Black Friday; the day after US Thanksgiving Day when retailers offer special discounts.
- 2021 November 25, Andreas Björklund, “Allt fler konsumenter skeptiska till Black Friday [More and more consumers are skeptical of Black Friday]”, in SVT Nyheter[1]:
- Färre konsumenter kommer att handla på nätet under Black Friday. Det visar en ny årlig undersökning och förklaringen är opinionen kring överkonsumtion. […] Företeelsen Black Friday kommer ursprungligen från USA där folk är lediga i slutet av november på grund av helgdagen Thanksgiving och det har inneburit en naturlig start av julhandeln. Fenomenet dök inte upp i Sverige förrän 2013.
- Fewer consumers will shop online during Black Friday. It shows a new annual survey and the explanation is public opinion about overconsumption. […] The phenomenon Black Friday originally comes from the USA where people are free at the end of November due to the holiday Thanksgiving and it has meant a natural start of the Christmas shopping. The phenomenon did not appear in Sweden until 2013.
- (by extension) The sales period involving price reductions immediately before and after US Thanksgiving Day.
- Coordinate term: Black Week
Derived terms
- Black Friday-vecka (“Black Friday week”)
See also
- Black Weekend
- Cyber Monday
- mellandagsrea (“December 25th to 31th sale period”)
- Singles' Day
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English multiword terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English internet slang
- en:Poker
- English terms with historical senses
- American English
- Canadian English
- British English
- en:Business
- en:Christmas
- en:Observances
- en:Thanksgiving
- French terms derived from English
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French uncountable nouns
- French multiword terms
- French terms spelled with K
- French masculine nouns
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese multiword terms
- Portuguese terms spelled with K
- Portuguese terms spelled with Y
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Portuguese nouns with multiple genders
- pt:Advertising
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish unadapted borrowings from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish multiword terms
- Spanish terms spelled with K
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Swedish terms borrowed from English
- Swedish unadapted borrowings from English
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish multiword terms
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish terms with quotations