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yuletide

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yuletide¹

Where it comes from

From Yule (“Germanic Winter Festival”) + -tide (“period around a festival, season”); compare Swedish juletid.

noun yuletides

  1. countable, uncountable Alternative letter-case form of Yuletide (“Christmas or the Christmas season”). During nearly 20 years of marriage, our Christmas decor rollout has grown – from a single hatbox of ornaments and lights to seven substantial cartons, filled with yuletide stuff that my wife has accumulated on a trail from Vienna through Saks Fifth Avenue to the Texas Hill country.

    Similar: Christmastide

  2. countable, uncountable The flower Camellia sasanqua, native to Japan and nearby islands.

    Similar: sasanqua

Yuletide²

  • /ˈjuːlˌtaɪd/ UK
  • /ˈjulˌtaɪd/ US

Where it comes from

Though attested late (c. 1475), probably dates back to Old English *ġēoltīd (literally “Christmas season”). See there for more; equivalent to Yule + -tide.

noun Yuletides

  1. countable, dated, uncountable The period around Christmas; the Christmas season, Christmastime; specifically, Christmas itself. Deck the halls with boughs of holly, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / 'Tis the season to be jolly, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / Don we now our gay apparel, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / Troll the ancient yuletide carol, / Fa la la la la la la la la!

    Similar: Christmastide

  2. countable, dated, uncountable The period of celebration of a pre-Christian festival associated with the (northern) winter solstice, later absorbed into the festival of Christmas (but sometimes recreated by modern neo-pagans). For this is the Yuletide, and the heathen people of the forest are gathered at the thunder-oak of Geismar to worship their god, Thor.
  3. Australia, countable, regional, uncountable The period of southern winter in the middle of the year, sometimes celebrated in the colder, snowy regions of Australia with allusions to Christmas, which originated as a marketing gimmick. Note that the colder winter months (June–Aug) are the busiest season. This period is known as Yuletide—the locals' version of the Christmas period, when most places offer traditional Christmas dinners and roaring log fires.

Translations

Every language

noun period of celebration of a pre-Christian festival associated with the (northern) winter solstice

EspañolYule

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MLA

"yuletide." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/yuletide. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

yuletide. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/yuletide

Chicago

"yuletide." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/yuletide.

BibTeX
@misc{yuletide_2026,
  title = {yuletide},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yuletide},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}