終了 and 終わり, is there a difference?


I don't think this is a duplicate . . . So can someone tell me if there is a
difference between the two? I know they both mean end, but are they
interchangeable? I came across this sentence

> お遊びタイム終了。

Which I would interpret as "game time is over", but could 終わり have been used
instead? Thanks everyone :)




There is a clear difference -- the word "class".

「おわり」, as I hope you could tell from the distinct "kun" sound, is an
originally Japanese word. We had this word when Japanese was still merely a
spoken language (and we never knew there existed another country).

「[終了]{しゅうりょう}」, as the "on" pronunciation would suggest, is a Sino-loanword.
It came from China later on together with tens of thousands of other words.

The two words have the same meaning but 「終了」 is **_more formal, technical and
official_** than 「終わり」」. This is the Golden Rule when you have an originally
Japanese word and a Sino-loanword with the same meaning.

One might find this odd, but this is the same in English. Latin-origin words
should sound more formal, technical and official than their English-origin
counterparts. 'finish/terminate' vs. 'end', 'converse' vs. 'chat', etc. The
list is simply endless for both Japanese and English.

In your example, the two words are interchangeable. In longer sentences, one
would have to change other words as well if you switched between 「終わり」 and
「終了」 to maintain the same level of formality throughout the sentence.




There is a clear difference -- the word "class".

「おわり」, as I hope you could tell from the distinct "kun" sound, is an
originally Japanese word. We had this word when Japanese was still merely a
spoken language (and we never knew there existed another country).

「[終了]{しゅうりょう}」, as the "on" pronunciation would suggest, is a Sino-loanword.
It came from China later on together with tens of thousands of other words.

The two words have the same meaning but 「終了」 is **_more formal, technical and
official_** than 「終わり」」. This is the Golden Rule when you have an originally
Japanese word and a Sino-loanword with the same meaning.

One might find this odd, but this is the same in English. Latin-origin words
should sound more formal, technical and official than their English-origin
counterparts. 'finish/terminate' vs. 'end', 'converse' vs. 'chat', etc. The
list is simply endless for both Japanese and English.

In your example, the two words are interchangeable. In longer sentences, one
would have to change other words as well if you switched between 「終わり」 and
「終了」 to maintain the same level of formality throughout the sentence.

