Yule

Also yule

[yool]

noun

1. Christmas, or the Christmas season.

2. an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.

yule

/ juːl /

noun

1. literary,  (sometimes capital)

   1. Christmas, the Christmas season, or Christmas festivities

   2. ( in combination )

      yuletide

Word History and Origins

Origin of yule¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English yole, Old English geōl, geol(a) “Christmas day, Christmastide”; cognate with Old Norse jōl, the name of the pagan winter feast lasting 12 days, later applied to Christmas; akin to Gothic jiuleis

Word History and Origins

Origin of yule¹

Old English geōla, originally a name of a pagan feast lasting 12 days; related to Old Norse jōl, Swedish jul, Gothic jiuleis

Example Sentences

When Louise Yule and her partner moved to an Aberdeenshire farm 20 years ago in search of the "good life" they had no intention of starting an animal sanctuary.

From BBC

Yule was also an instructor who taught at Juilliard, Columbia University and at HB Studio.

From Los Angeles Times

So in that case, you treat it more like the Yule log, right, at Christmas time.

From Salon

Well, we started as the Yule log.

From Salon

The sound of the fire, crackling and popping, struck Borsay as weirdly familiar, like the YouTube yule log video he put on at Christmas.

From Los Angeles Times

When To Use

What does yule mean?

The word yule can be used as another name for Christmas, the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus.However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the Winter Solstice that’s observed in some Pagan traditions.Like the word Christmas, yule can also be used to refer to the Christmas season—Christmastime. Another word for this is yuletide.When they’re used in reference to Christmas, the terms yule and yuletide are often intended to sound a bit old-timey—yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and all that.Example: I like to spend Yule sitting by the hearth, listening to tales of winters gone by.