Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Christmas.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun informal, proscribed Abbreviation of Christmas.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ; a quarter day in England, Wales, and Ireland

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From X, the Greek letter chi, first letter of Greek Khrīstos, Christ; see Christ.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1755, preceded by earlier forms such as X'temmas (1551) and Old English Χp̃es mæssa (1100), from Christmas, replacing Christ by abbreviation X, from Ancient Greek Χ (Ch, "(letter chi)"), from Χριστός (Christós, "Christ"). Surface analysis X (“Christ”) +‎ -mas (“holiday”). In popular use since late 19th century. See Wikipedia for more information.

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