christmastide

C2+ Topic:Time

US /ˈkrɪsməsˌtaɪd/ UK /ˈkrɪsməsˌtaɪd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the festive season extending from Christmas through Epiphany

They kept the lamps lit all through christmastide.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the festive season... yuletidechristmasnoelyule

Word family

Related forms christmasyuletideeventide

Etymology

A compound of Christmas (from Old English Crīstes mæsse, 'Christ's mass') + tide (Old English tīd, 'time, season').

tīd Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Time

External links

# christmastide

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkrɪsməsˌtaɪd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkrɪsməsˌtaɪd/

## Meanings
1. the festive season extending from Christmas through Epiphany

## Examples
- They kept the lamps lit all through christmastide.

## Synonyms
- yuletide
- christmas
- noel
- yule

## Related Forms
- christmas
- yuletide
- eventide

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: tīd

## Etymology
A compound of Christmas (from Old English Crīstes mæsse, 'Christ's mass') + tide (Old English tīd, 'time, season').

## AI Etymology
Christmastide is a compound of Christmas (from Old English Crīstes mæsse, 'Christ's mass') + tide (Old English tīd, 'time, season'). The historical trail runs through tīd in Old English. Morphologically, christmastide is transparent: it is a compound of Christmas (from Old English Crīstes mæsse, 'Christ's mass') + tide (Old English tīd, 'time, season'). Used as a noun, christmastide now means "the festive season extending from Christmas through Epiphany", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as christmas, yuletide, and eventide. The modern word remains analyzable through its parts, which makes the semantic connection unusually direct.

## Topics
- Time

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