midwinter

English

Alternative forms

• mid-winter

Etymology

From Middle English midwinter, mydwinter, mydwynter, from Old English midwinter, from Proto-West Germanic *midiwintru, from Proto-Germanic *midjawintruz (“midwinter”), equivalent to mid- +‎ winter. Cognate with West Frisian midwinter (“midwinter”), Dutch midwinter (“midwinter”), German Mittwinter (“midwinter”), Danish midvinter (“midwinter”), Swedish midvinter (“midwinter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɪdˈwɪntə(ɹ)/, /ˈmɪdˌwɪntə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

midwinter (countable and uncountable, plural midwinters)

1. The middle of winter.
   • 1913, William J[ohn] Locke, chapter XIV, in Stella Maris, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; […], →OCLC, page 184:

     IN midwinter the shadow that hung over John gathered into storm-cloud.

2. The winter solstice; about December 21st or 22nd.

Antonyms

• midsummer

Derived terms

• midwinter day, midwinter's day
• midwinter eve, midwinter even, midwinter's eve, midwinter's even
• mid-winterly
• midwinter month
• midwinter night, midwinter's night
• midwinter tide, midwinter's tide
• mid-wintry

Translations

the middle of winter

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隆冬 (zh) (lóngdōng)

• Dutch: midwinter (nl) m
• Finnish: keskitalvi
• French: milieu de l'hiver
• Georgian: შუა ზამთარი (šua zamtari), შუაგული ზამთარი (šuaguli zamtari)
• German: only circumlocutions, e.g. tiefster Winter, Mitte des Winters
• Japanese: 真冬 (ja) (mafuyu)
• Māori: whaturua, Maruaroa o te Takurua
• Navajo: haiʼííłnííʼ
• Polish: środek zimy m
• Portuguese: pleno inverno m
• Romanian: miezul iernii (ro) n
• Russian: середи́на зимы f (seredína zimy)
• Scottish Gaelic: leth a' gheamhraidh
• Spanish: pleno invierno m
• Swedish: midvinter (sv) c
• Welsh: canol gaeaf m

the winter solstice

• Bulgarian: зимно слънцестоене n (zimno slǎncestoene)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冬至 (zh) (dōngzhì)

• Dutch: midwinter (nl) m
• Finnish: talvipäivänseisaus (fi)
• French: solstice d'hiver (fr)
• German: Wintersonnenwende (de) f
• Polish: przesilenie zimowe n
• Portuguese: solstício do inverno m
• Russian: зимнее солнцестоя́ние (ru) n (zimneje solncestojánije)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: vintersolstånd (sv) n

Adjective

midwinter (not comparable)

1. Of or occurring in the middle of winter.
   • 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 590:

     Except for the mid-winter period, when the 11.30 a.m. from Paddington and its opposite number will be withdrawn - Torquay now has seven daily expresses to and from Paddington as compared with five down and six up previously.

   • 1965 January 17, “Midwinter Vacations 1965”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     There is aid at hand in the tourist’s personal war midwinter fatigue and ennui—airlines serving the Caribbean islands are at odds with each other’s tariffs, and their competitive juggling of schedules and prices benefits the tourist.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2004 January 16, Kathleen Jamie, “Into the dark”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2019:

     When my son was born, a midwinter child, he cried pitifully at the ward's lights, and settled to sleep only when he was laid in a big pram with a black hood under a black umbrella.

   • 2016 February 1, Lisa Rose, “Punxsutawney Phil: Friend or foe? A Groundhog Day investigation”, in CNN‎^[3], archived from the original on 25 April 2016:

     For more than a century, groundhogs have been midwinter luminaries, scampering into the spotlight on February 2 to divine whether the second half of the season will be cold or mild.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch middewinter, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic *midiwintru. Equivalent to mid- +‎ winter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɪtˈʋɪn.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mid‧win‧ter

Noun

midwinter m (plural midwinters, no diminutive)

1. midwinter

   Coordinate term: midzomer

   Met midwinter vierden de oude culturen de terugkeer van het licht. ― At midwinter, ancient cultures celebrated the return of the light.

   Vele feesten zijn gebaseerd op de midwinter tradities. ― Many festivals are based on midwinter traditions.

   De zon staat op zijn laagste punt tijdens midwinter. ― The sun is at its lowest point during midwinter.

2. winter solstice, midwinter

Derived terms

• midwinterhoorn

Middle English

Noun

midwinter

1. alternative form of mydwinter

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *midjaz wintruz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmidˌwin.ter/

Noun

midwinter m

1. the middle of winter; midwinter, Christmas
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The First Sunday of the Lord's Advent"

     Þēos tīd oþ midne winter is ġecweden Adventus Dominī, þæt is "Dryhtnes tōcyme."

     This time until midwinter is called Adventus Domini, that is "the coming of the Lord."

Usage notes

• In cases other than the strong nominative singular, the prefix usually becomes the adjective midd and is inflected: Ne bēoþ nāne wilde blostman on midne winter (“There are no wildflowers in the middle of winter”). Middæġ (“noon”), midniht (“midnight”), and midsumor (“midsummer”) work the same way.

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	midwinter	midde wintras
accusative	midne winter	midde wintras
genitive	middes wintres	midra wintra
dative	middum wintra	middum wintrum

Derived terms

• middes wintres mæssedæġ

Descendants

• Middle English: mydwinter, midewinter, midwenter, midwinter, midwynter, myde-wynter, mydwynter, mydwyntyr
  • English: midwinter