winter
/ˈwin.ter/standard
The Old English word for "winter" is winter. It looks just like the modern English word, and it was also used to mean "year", because Anglo-Saxons counted years in winters.
In surviving texts winter names the cold season. In the plural it can also stand for years, so a person could be described by how many wintra (winters) they had lived.
Meaning: fourth season, marked by short days and the lowest temperatures (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The genitive singular is wintres, which gives phrases such as wintres dæġ (a winter's day). The form wintra appears in King Alfred's translation of Bede's history in the phrase on wintra, "in the winter".
How do you pronounce it?
Stress the first syllable, WIN-ter. Say the w as in modern English and pronounce the final r clearly.
Did you know?
- The phrase on wintra comes from a late 9th century Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, which describes long nights "in the winter" on the island of Britain.
Examples in context
- on wintraon wintraIn the winter
- wintres dæġwintres dæġA winter's day
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry winter, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of .
