noel
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 25 December 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 25, 2025 is:
noel • \noh-EL\ • noun
When capitalized, Noel refers to Christmas or the Christmas season. Uncapitalized, noel refers to a Christmas carol.
// We were greeted at the door by a group of carolers singing noels.
// Every year we send our family Christmas cards with our photo enclosed wishing everyone a joyous Noel.
Examples:
“The meeting began with a touch of holiday spirit as members of the Woodland Park High School Madrigals sang three selections. The first was a Noel song with a medieval/renaissance feel that was well matched to their festive costumes. They followed with the popular ‘Carol of the Bells’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’” — Doug Fitzgerald, The Pikes Peak (Colorado) Courier, 9 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
English speakers borrowed noel from the French word noël, which is also used for both the Christmas holiday and a Christmas carol. It can be traced further back to the Latin word natalis, which can mean “birthday” as a noun or “of or relating to birth” as an adjective. (The English adjective natal has the same meaning and is also an offspring of natalis.) Noels were being sung in Latin and French for centuries before English-speakers started using the word to refer to Christmas carols in the 18th century. An early use of noel (spelled Nowel) to mean “Christmas” can be found in the text of the late 14th-century Arthurian legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day for December 25th. |
| 0:12.0 | Today's word is Noel, spelled N-O-E-L. |
| 0:15.0 | Noelle is a noun. |
| 0:17.0 | When capitalized, it refers to Christmas or to the Christmas season. Uncapitalized, |
| 0:23.1 | the word refers to a Christmas carol. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Pikes Peak Courier. |
| 0:29.8 | The meeting began with a touch of holiday spirit as members of the Woodland Park High School |
| 0:34.6 | madrigals sang three selections. The first was a Noelle song with |
| 0:39.2 | a medieval Renaissance feel that was well matched to their festive costumes. They followed with |
| 0:44.6 | the popular Carol of the Bells and we wish you a Merry Christmas. English speakers borrowed |
| 0:50.2 | the word Noelle from the French word Noelle, spelled with two dots over the E, |
| 0:55.0 | called a tremant in French or an umlaut or a diaricis, which is also used for both the Christmas |
| 1:01.0 | holiday and a Christmas carol. It can be traced further back to the Latin word Natalis, which can mean |
| 1:07.8 | birthday as a noun or of or relating to birth as an adjective. |
| 1:12.7 | The English adjective, natal, has the same meaning and is also an offspring of Natales. |
| 1:19.1 | Noelle's were being sung in Latin and French for centuries before English speakers started using the word to refer to Christmas carols in the early 18th century. |
| 1:29.0 | An early use of Noel spelled N-O-W-E-L to mean Christmas can be found in the text of the late |
| 1:36.0 | 14th century Arthurian legend Sir Gowan in the Green Knight. With your word of the day, I'm |
| 1:41.7 | Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:46.1 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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