canicule vs period of time

canicule and period of time both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
canicule	Yes	No	No	No
period of time	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, period of time is a hypernym of canicule; that is, period of time is a word with a broader meaning than canicule:

canicule: the hot period between early July and early September; a period of inactivity
period of time: an amount of time

Other hypernyms of canicule include period, time period.

canicule (noun)	period of time (noun)
the hot period between early July and early September; a period of inactivity	an amount of time