Christmas

Christmas

English

Nativity scene depicted using Christmas lights

Alternative forms

• Christmasse (archaic)
• Xmas, X-mas

Etymology

From Middle English Cristemasse, from Old English Cristes mæsse (literally “Christ's mass”). By surface analysis, Christ +‎ -mas.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: krĭsʹməs, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪsməs/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsməs
• Hyphenation: Christ‧mas

Proper noun

Christmas (countable and uncountable, plural Christmases or Christmasses)

1. A festival/holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan and secular customs, which is celebrated on December 25 in most places.

   Do you celebrate Christmas?

   This Christmas we'll open presents then go to grandma's for dinner.

2. The Twelve Days of Christmas: Christmastide; the season (traditionally from the 24th of December to the 6th of January) around the holiday.
3. A personification of Christmas.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

4. (marketing, retailing) The Christmas season, variously defined as the period from the Friday following Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, or the end of the year period, when consumers shop and prepare for Christmas.

   The last three Christmases have been good for retailers.

   Christmas shoppers spent less this December, than last year, but our store will probably see just as many returned items during the twelve days of Christmas.

5. A surname.
6. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An uninhabited mining community in Gila County, Arizona.
   2. A census-designated place in Orange County, Florida.
   3. An unincorporatedcommunity in Au Train Township, Alger County, Michigan.
   4. An unincorporatedcommunity in Bolivar County, Mississippi

Synonyms

• Chrimble (Crimble), Crimbo (Chrimbo)
• Chrissy
• Noel
• Yule

Derived terms

• Christmas box
• Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera spp.)
• Christmas cake
• Christmas card
• Christmas carol
• Christmas cheer
• Christmas club
• Christmas comes but once a year
• Christmas Common
• Christmas cracker
• Christmas creep
• Christmas Day
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas holly (Ilex aquifolium)
• Christmas is coming
• Christmas Island
• Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagnei)
• Christmas orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale)
• Christmas Pie, Christmaspie
• Christmas present
• Christmas pudding
• Christmas star
• Christmas stocking
• Christmassy
• Christmastide
• Christmas time
• Christmas tree
• Cold Christmas
• Father Christmas
• Gothmas
• like turkeys voting for Christmas, like turkeys voting for an early Christmas
• Merry Christmas
• Shitmas
• think all one's Christmases have come at once
• Twelve Days of Christmas
• white Christmas
• X-mas
• Xmas

 

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: Krismis
• → Gilbertese: Kiritimati
  • → English: Kiritimati
• → Golin: geresma
• → Hawaiian: Kalikimaka
• → Hijazi Arabic: الكْرِسمس‎ (al-krismis, al-krismas)
• → Hindi: क्रिसमस (krismas), क्रिस्मस (krismas)
• → Hopi: Kyesmis
• → Maori: Kirihimete
• → Mon: ခရေတ်သမာတ်
• → Burmese: ခရစ္စမတ် (hka.racca.mat)
• → Japanese: クリスマス (Kurisumasu)
• → Korean: 크리스마스 (Keuriseumaseu)
• → Swahili: Krismasi

Translations

Christmas festival (holiday)

Afrikaans: Kersfees (af) Albanian: Krishtlindja (sq), Kërshëndella Alutiiq: Aʀusistuaq Amharic: ገና (gäna) Arabic: عِيد الْمِيلَاد‎ m (ʿīd al-mīlād), الْمِيلَاد‎ (ar) m (al-mīlād), الْكْرِيسْمَاس‎ m (al-krismas) Egyptian Arabic: عيد الملاد‎ m (ʿīd il-milād) Hijazi Arabic: الكرسمس‎ m (al-krismis, al-krismas) Armenian: Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Surb Cnund) Aromanian: Crãciun Assamese: বৰদিন (bordin) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܥܹܐܕܵܐ ܕܡܵܘܠܵܕܵܐ‎ m (ʿēda d-mawlada), ܥܹܐܕܵܐ ܙܥܘܿܪܵܐ‎ m (ʿēda zʿora) Asturian: navidá (ast) f, ñavidá (ast) f Azerbaijani: Milad Basque: Eguberri (eu) Bavarian: Weihnåchtn Cimbrian: Boinichtn Mòcheno: Bainechtn Belarusian: каля́ды f pl (kaljády), Раство́ n (Rastvó), Ражджаство́ n (Raždžastvó), Ражаство́ n (Ražastvó), Нараджэ́нне Хрысто́ва n (Naradžénnje Xrystóva) Bengali: বড়দিন (bn) (bôṛôdin) Bikol Central: Pasko Breton: Nedeleg (br) m Bulgarian: Коледа (bg) f (Koleda), Рождество Христово n (Roždestvo Hristovo) Burmese: ခရစ္စမတ် (my) (hka.racca.mat), နာတာလူးပွဲ (my) (natalu:pwai:) Catalan: Nadal (ca) m Cherokee: ᏓᏂᏍᏓᏲᎯᎲ (danisdayohihv) Chichewa: Khirisimasi Chinese: Cantonese: 聖誕節, 圣诞节 (sing3 daan3 zit3) Hakka: 聖誕節, 圣诞节 (Sṳn-tan-chiet) Mandarin: 聖誕節／圣诞节 (zh) (Shèngdànjié), 耶誕節／耶诞节 (zh) (Yēdànjié, Yédànjié) (Taiwan) Min Nan: 聖誕 (zh-min-nan), 圣诞 (Sèng-tàn), 耶誕 (zh-min-nan), 耶诞 (Iâ-tàn) Chuukese: Kirisimas Chuvash: Раштав (Raštav) Cornish: Standard Cornish: Nadelyk Unified Cornish: Nadelek Czech: Boží hod m, Vánoce (cs) pl Danish: jul (da) c Dutch: Kerstmis (nl) m, kerst (nl) m Dzongkha: ཡེ་ཤུའི་འཁྲུངས་སྟོན (ye shu'i 'khrungs ston) Esperanto: kristnasko Estonian: jõulud (et) pl Ewe: Blunya Faroese: jól (fo) n pl Finnish: joulu (fi) French: Noël (fr) m Friulian: Nadâl Galician: Nadal (gl) m Georgian: შობა (ka) (šoba) German: Weihnachten (de) n Alemannic German: Wiehnachte Silesian: Weihnachta, Weihnachten Greek: Χριστούγεννα (el) n pl (Christoúgenna) Greenlandic: juulli (kl) Guaraní: Arareñói Gujarati: નાતાલ f (nātāl) Hausa: Kirsimati Hawaiian: Kalikimaka, Kalikamaka Hebrew: חַג הַמּוֹלָד‎ (he) (khag ha'molad) Hindi: क्रिसमस m (krismas), क्रिस्मस m (krismas), बड़ा दिन m (baṛā din), ईद-ए-तवल्लुद m (īd-e-tavallud), ईद-ए-विलादत m (īd-e-vilādat) Hungarian: karácsony (hu) Hunsrik: Weinachte n Icelandic: jól (is) n pl Inari Sami: juovlah pl Indonesian: Natal (id) Ingrian: Joulu Irish: Nollaig (ga) f Old Irish: Notlaic f Italian: Natale (it) m Japanese: クリスマス (ja) (Kurisumasu), 聖誕祭 (ja) (せいたんさい, Seitansai), 聖誕節 (ja) (せいたんせつ, Seitansetsu) Javanese: Natal Kannada: ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ (krismas) Karelian: Rastavu Kazakh: Рождество (Rojdestvo) Khmer: ណូអែល (nouʼael), បុណ្យណូអែល (bon nouʼael) Konkani: नाताळ (nātāḷ) Korean: 크리스마스 (ko) (Keuriseumaseu), 성탄절 (ko) (Seongtanjeol) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: gaxan (ku), noel (ku), krismas (ku) Kyrgyz: Рождество (Rojdestvo) Ladin: Nadel m Ladino: Noel Lakota: Wóšpipi, Wóšpipi Káǧapi Lao: ຄິດສະມາດ (khit sa māt), ໂນແອນ (nō ʼǣn), ບົນໂນແອນ (bon nō ʼǣn) Latin: festum Nativitatis Domini, Nātīvitās f, Christi Natalis Latvian: Ziemassvētki m pl, Ziemsvētki m pl Lithuanian: Kalėdos (lt) f pl Low German: German Low German: Wiehnachten n Lule Sami: javlla Luxembourgish: Chrëschtdag (lb) m Macedonian: Божиќ m (Božiḱ) Malay: Hari Natal, Krismas Malayalam: ക്രിസ്തുമസ് (kristumasŭ) Maltese: Milied m Manx: Nollick f, Nollick Vooar f Maori: Kirihimete Marathi: नाताळ m (nātāḷ) Mòcheno: bainechtn pl Marshallese: Kūrijm̧ōj Middle English: Cristemasse Mingrelian: ქირსე (kirse) Mon: တ္ၚဲခရေတ်သမာတ် (mnw), ခရေတ်သမာတ် (mnw) Mongolian: Зул сар (Zul sar), Христосын мэндэлсэн өдөр (Xristosyn mendelsen ödör) Navajo: Késhmish Nepali: क्रिसमस (krisamas) Norman: Noué m Northern Sami: juovllat pl Norwegian: Bokmål: jul (no) m or f Nynorsk: jol f, jul f Occitan: Nadal (oc) m Ofo: noⁿˊpi Ojibwe: niibaanamom Old English: ġēol n, Cristes mæsse f, midwinter m Old Norse: jól n pl Oriya: ବଡ଼ ଦିନ (or) (bôṛô dinô), କିସ୍ମସ୍ (or) (kismôs) Papiamentu: Pasku Pashto: کریمیس‎ Persian: کریسمس‎ (fa) (krismas), عید میلاد مسیح‎ (eyd-e milâd-e masih), عید نوئل‎ (fa) (eyd-e no'el) Pite Sami: jåvvlå Plautdietsch: Wienachten f Polish: Boże Narodzenie (pl) n Portuguese: Natal (pt) m Punjabi: ਵੱਡਾ ਦਿਨ (vaḍḍā din), ਕ੍ਰਿਸਮਸ (krismas) Romagnol: Nadêl m Romanian: Crăciun (ro) n, Nașterea lui Isus Cristos f, Nașterea Domnului f Russian: Рождество́ Христо́во (ru) n (Roždestvó Xristóvo), Рождество́ (ru) n (Roždestvó), Кри́стмас m (Krístmas) (colloquial, foreign context or foreign communities) Rusyn: Ріство́ n (Ristvó) Santali: ᱢᱟᱨᱟᱝ ᱢᱟᱦᱟᱸ (maraṅ mahã) Scots: Yule Scottish Gaelic: Nollaig f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Божић m, Рождество n Roman: Božić m, Roždestvo (sh) n Sicilian: Natali (scn) Sindhi: ڪرسمس‎ (sd) Sinhalese: නත්තල (nattala) Skolt Sami: rosttov Slovak: Vianoce (sk) f pl Slovene: Bôžič (sl) m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: gódy pl Upper Sorbian: hody m pl Sotho: Kresemese Southern Sami: jåvlh pl Spanish: Navidad (es) f Sranan Tongo: Bedaki, kresneti Swahili: Krismasi Swedish: jul (sv) c Tagalog: Pasko (tl) Tajik: Мавлуди Исо (tg) (Mavludi Iso), Кристмас (Kristmas) Tamil: கிசிமிசி (kicimici), கிறிஸ்மஸ் (kiṟismas), கிறித்துமசு (ta) (kiṟittumacu), கிறிஸ்துமஸ் (ta) (kiṟistumas), நத்தார் (nattār) Tatar: Раштуа (Raştua) Telugu: క్రిస్మస్ (krismas) Thai: คริสต์มาส (th) (krís-mâas), คริสตสมภพ (krít-dtà-sǒm-póp) Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤུའི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར (ye shu'i 'khrungs skar) Turkish: Noel (tr) Turkmen: Isanyň dogluşy, roždestwo, milad Ukrainian: Різдво́ (uk) n (Rizdvó), Різдво́ Христо́ве n (Rizdvó Xrystóve) Ume Sami: juvlla Urdu: کرسمس‎ m (krismas), بڑا دن‎ m (baṛā din), عید تولد‎ m (īd-e-tavallud), عید ولادت‎ m (īd-e-vilādat) Uyghur: روجدېستۋو‎ (rojdëstwo), روجىستىۋا‎ (rojistiwa) Uzbek: Mavlud, Rojdestvo (uz) Vietnamese: Nô-en, Giáng sinh (vi) Vilamovian: Waeinahta f, Wajnaochta f Volapük: kritid (vo), kritidazäl (vo) Walloon: Noyé (wa) m or f Welsh: Nadolig (cy) m West Frisian: Krysttiid Yiddish: ניטל‎ m (nitl) Yup'ik: Alussistuaq, Selavi Zulu: Ukhisimuzi

Adjective

Christmas (not comparable)

1. (US) Red and green (traditional Christmas colors), especially red and green chile sauce in New Mexican cuisine.

See also

(associated entries):

• Advent
• Black Friday
• Boxing Day
• Christmas Eve
• quarter day
• St. Stephen's Day
• Yule
• Yuletide

 

Anagrams

• Chartisms

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Scots

Noun

Christmas

1. Christmas present