Yuletide
/ˈjuːl.taɪd/noun
The Christmas season or winter holiday period.
Did you know?Yule began as a pre-Christian Germanic winter feast, and the word survived into English so completely that modern holiday language still carries the ghost of that older seasonal rite.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*jehulō / *jolą
“A midwinter feast or Yule celebration”
Old English
OE
geol / geolæ
“The month of December or the Yule season”
Old English
OE
tīd
“Time, season, or a particular period”
Middle English
ME
yule tide
“The Christmas season; the time of Yule”
Modern English
English
yuletide
“The Christmas or winter holiday season”