10 Ways to Say ‘Vacation’

Late July and early August are the height of vacation season in the United States. Highways are jammed, pools are packed, and campgrounds at capacity. With that in mind, let’s talk about the word “vacation” and other ways to talk about taking time off.

The Word 'Vacation' First Appears in Chaucer

The word “vacation” comes from the Latin word “vacāt,” which is the participial stem of the verb “vacāre,” meaning to be empty or free. Other words that come from the same root are “vacant” and “vacancy,” as well as the obsolete words “vacantry,” meaning idleness, and “vacatur,” meaning an annulment.

Although people have surely been taking breaks since the beginning of time, the word “vacation” doesn’t show up in print until 1386, in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” In his poem, the Wife of Bath describes how one of her husbands had a book about “wikked wyves.” The book tells about the most notorious wives in history, including Eve, Delilah, and Clytemnestra. The husband spends all his free time — his “leyser and vacacioun” — reading the book aloud to her, as a form of torment. 

(By the way, don’t worry about the Wife of Bath. She winds up ripping some of the pages out of her husband’s book, hitting him in the face, and convincing him to give her all of his estate.)

Vacation, Staycation, and Fakation

On another topic. I’ve talked before about our seemingly endless appetite for creating “portmanteaus” — words that mash together two parts of other words to make something new. Examples are “spork,” which combines “spoon” and “fork,” and “smog,” a combination of “smoke” and “fog.” 

Well, people have also come up with some fun portmanteaus related to vacations. There’s “staycation,” time off when you don’t travel, but stay at home—to relax, do projects around the house, or enjoy the sites in your own hometown. There’s “fakation,” a vacation you contrive to take by falsely calling in sick to work. There are even “brocations” and “mancations,” guys-only getaways where you get to do … whatever it is guys do when they get together.

Then, of course, there’s “glamping.” This un-musical word is a mashup of “glamorous” and “camping.” It describes a luxurious outing very different from what you may have done as a Boy Scout or Girl Scout. Think of relaxing in a safari-size tent built on a...

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