日々 vs 毎日 - usage


Are 日々｛ひび｝ and 毎日｛まいにち｝ basically the same? I feel that 毎日 is a bit more
formal but I don't see their difference other than this.




When you have a **kun** -reading and **on** -reading word pair that apparently
share a basic meaning, you can be pretty sure that there will also be a
difference of some sort between the two. The 日々{ひび}－毎日{まいにち} pair is no
exception.

The types of differences differ from one word pair to the next, but I will not
get into that this time because that would require a couple of pages of
writing.

「毎日」 sounds sort of **_generic, practical and vernacular_**. It is the "safer"
word choice of the two in that it is **_not_** a nuanced word at all. You can
use 「毎日」 everyday (pun intended) and no one would think anything of it. Any
three-year-old native speaker will use it freely, actively and correctly.

「日々」 is a far more **_nuanced_** word than 「毎日」. You will not find a three-
year old who could form a good sentence using 「日々」.

「日々」 carries a more **_literary_** nuance of accumulating skills, knowledge,
experience, etc. over time. It is altogether a heavier- and more poetic-
sounding word than 「毎日」, which, in all honesty, sounds quite plain in
comparison.

In conclusion, there certainly is a sizable amount of interchangeability
between the two words on one level, but one could generally say that the more
refined the speaker, the less often the two words would be used
interchangeably.




When you have a **kun** -reading and **on** -reading word pair that apparently
share a basic meaning, you can be pretty sure that there will also be a
difference of some sort between the two. The 日々{ひび}－毎日{まいにち} pair is no
exception.

The types of differences differ from one word pair to the next, but I will not
get into that this time because that would require a couple of pages of
writing.

「毎日」 sounds sort of **_generic, practical and vernacular_**. It is the "safer"
word choice of the two in that it is **_not_** a nuanced word at all. You can
use 「毎日」 everyday (pun intended) and no one would think anything of it. Any
three-year-old native speaker will use it freely, actively and correctly.

「日々」 is a far more **_nuanced_** word than 「毎日」. You will not find a three-
year old who could form a good sentence using 「日々」.

「日々」 carries a more **_literary_** nuance of accumulating skills, knowledge,
experience, etc. over time. It is altogether a heavier- and more poetic-
sounding word than 「毎日」, which, in all honesty, sounds quite plain in
comparison.

In conclusion, there certainly is a sizable amount of interchangeability
between the two words on one level, but one could generally say that the more
refined the speaker, the less often the two words would be used
interchangeably.

