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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.
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2017-01-17T13:17:36.913
42612
2017-01-19T00:01:42.950
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question
word-choice usage
日々 vs 毎日 - usage
日々 can be used as [days]. As in Aさんの日々 which can mean [Mr.A's days (a period
of life)]. 日々 tends to be used more in literature and title than in normal
conversation.
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2017-01-18T04:38:25.240
42634
2017-01-18T04:38:25.240
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These words are close in meaning, but I think there is a difference.

If you say 「毎日」, it is strictly every day, and is mentioning _each individual
day_.

Compared to that, 「日々」 sounds less strict and more continuous to me. So 「日々」
refers to _the whole period longer than a day_. It may refer to a few days, a
few years or even whole life. Or it can be left not clarified.

For example:

> **毎日** [勉強]{べんきょう}する。  
>  _The event of studying occurs every day_.
>
> **日々** 勉強する。  
>  _Continue studying day by day._

* * *

> [戦]{たたか}いの **毎日** を送る。  
>  _Spend every day fighting._
>
> 戦いの **日々** を送る。  
>  _Spend one's days fighting._

* * *

As for formality, I don't feel any difference in their formality, though it
seems that 「日々」 occurs far less often than 「毎日」 in colloquial words.
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2017-01-18T09:32:37.990
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2017-01-18T09:39:08.450
2017-01-18T09:39:08.450
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answer
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.
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2017-01-18T15:02:23.290
42641
2017-01-19T00:01:42.950
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answer