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I need the English word/phrase for a day between two holidays/days that people are generally not working – in my own language this is called "klämdag", so, for instance, if Thursday is a holiday, but the subsequent Friday isn't, then the Friday is a "klämdag". I have found some support for "bridge day" for this phenomenon, and it has been brought up here on Stack as well, but I can't find it in any of my dictionaries (Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, Longman). I realise from the other post here on Stack that the phenomenon as such doesn't exist in the UK or the US, so I guess that's why it isn't listed in any of my dictionaries.

My question now is: to what extent do native speakers of English nevertheless understand the word? Would most people understand it, or is it better to paraphrase?

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    I doubt it would be understood without a few extra words of explanation. Most UK public holidays are fixed as Mondays to avoid the problem.
    – Kate Bunting
    Mar 5, 2022 at 13:23
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    Brits who know anything about France know about the ponts de mai.
    – Michael Harvey
    Mar 5, 2022 at 15:37

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In British English there is no term for such a day. The only time this would occur in the UK is at Christmas and New Year, as all other national holidays are on Mondays and Fridays. When the national holidays for Christmas day and Boxing day fall mid-week, many employees are keen to book the days either side to connect to a weekend and enjoy a longer break without work. In 30 years of working, I've only ever heard people refer to them as "the days inbetween", or perhaps "the inbetween days", but this would have to come as part of a conversation about the holiday period otherwise it wouldn't have any context.

I don't think anyone can authoritatively answer "to what extent" English speakers would understand your translated term "bridge days", but I feel that if you contextualised it as I have described above, it would be understood. For example, if you said "the holiday falls on a Thursday, so Friday is a bridge day before the weekend", it would be obvious what you meant. On the other hand, if you just said "Friday is a bridge day" without any context, it is unlikely anyone would know what you were talking about, unless by chance they'd read this page.

It is also worth noting that, in recent times, some people have started referring to Wednesday as 'hump day', as it is the middle of the working week for many and getting past it feels like getting over a hump, which is very similar imagery to a bridge. Introducing this term of yours could cause confusion.

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