Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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. See the entry > 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.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 24, 2025 is: hark back • \HAHRK-BAK\ • verb Harking back can be about turning back to an earlier topic or circumstance, as in "a storyteller harking back to his youth," or it can be about going back to something as an origin or source, as in "a style that harks back to the turn of the previous century." // The dinner conversation harked back to the lunch debate over what counts as a traditional holiday meal. // The diner's interior decor harks back to the 1950s. See the entry > Examples: "The single harks back to Chenier's heyday when his music was produced on 45s and put into jukeboxes, says [Maureen] Loughran." — Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2025 Did you know? Hark, a very old word meaning "to listen," was used as a cry in hunting. The master of the hunt might cry "Hark! Forward!" or "Hark! Back!" The cries became set phrases, both as nouns and verbs. Thus, a "hark back" was a retracing of a route by dogs and hunters, and to "hark back" was to turn back along the path. From its use in hunting, the verb acquired its current figurative meanings concerned with returning to the past. The variants hearken and harken (also very old words meaning "to listen") are also used, with and without back, as synonyms of hark back.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 23, 2025 is: bespoke • \bih-SPOHK\ • adjective Bespoke describes something that is custom-made—that is, made to fit the needs or requirements of a particular person. // As a tailor, Lana specialized in crafting bespoke clothing for her clients, each piece unique and suited to their tastes. See the entry > Examples: “The vehicles are bespoke machines with every little detail thought of, from embroidered seats to custom floor mats to retro paint jobs.” — Charlie Berrey, SlashGear.com, 10 Nov. 2025 Did you know? In the English language of yore, the verb bespeak had various meanings, including “to speak,” “to accuse,” and “to complain.” In the 16th century, bespeak acquired another meaning: “to order.” It is from that sense that we get the adjective bespoke, referring to clothes and other things that are ordered before they are made. Bespoke has enjoyed a spike in usage in recent years, perhaps due to consumer trends that champion all things artisanal over those that are prefab.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 22, 2025 is: temporize • \TEM-puh-ryze\ • verb To temporize is to avoid making a decision or giving a definite answer in order to have more time. // Pressured by voters on both sides of the issue, the congressman temporized. See the entry > Examples: "The question is, Did you eat the last piece of pie? And the politician who ate the last piece of pie doesn't want to say yes, because they might get in trouble. Doesn't want to say no, because that's an outright lie. So they waver, they equivocate, they temporize, they put things in context, and they talk like a politician." — David Frum, The Atlantic (The David Frum Show podcast), 21 May 2025 Did you know? Temporize comes from the Middle French word temporiser, which in turn likely traces back via Medieval Latin temporizāre, "to delay," to the Latin noun tempus, meaning "time." Tempus is also the root of such words as tempo, contemporary, and temporal. If you need to buy some time, you might resort to temporizing, but you probably won't win admiration for doing so, as the word typically carries a negative connotation. For instance, a political leader faced with a difficult issue might temporize by talking vaguely about possible solutions without actually doing anything. The point of such temporizing is to avoid taking definitive—and possibly unpopular—action, in hopes that the problem will somehow go away.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 21, 2025 is: hibernaculum • \hye-ber-NAK-yuh-lum\ • noun Hibernaculum (plural hibernacula) refers to a shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal, such as an insect, snake, bat, or marmot. // Local scientists are studying the longevity of bats who use bridges and other aboveground hibernacula versus that of bats who roost all winter in subterranean caves. See the entry > Examples: “Adult female bees begin looking for a hibernation location, or hibernaculum, in the fall. If the gardener is planning to deadhead any spent flowers from the summer, aim to prune stems at varying heights (8" to 24") as a nesting site for these bees. Many perennial flowers and shrubs have pithy stems that will serve as a good location. A few common Oklahoma garden plants that are good candidates include roses, purple coneflower, salvia, bee balm, and sunflowers.” — Sherry Clark, The Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star, 8 Oct. 2025 Did you know? If you’re afraid of snakes or bats, you probably won’t enjoy thinking about hibernacula, where hundreds, even thousands, of these creatures might be passing the wintry months. Other creatures also use hibernacula, though many of these tend to be less crowded. The word hibernaculum has been used for the burrow of a woodchuck, for instance, as well as for a cozy caterpillar cocoon attached to a wintry twig, and for the spot in which a frog has buried itself in mud. Hibernacula are all around us and have been around for a long, long time, but we have only called them such since the late 1700s, making hibernaculum only a few decades older than the more familiar verb hibernate. Both words come from the Latin verb hibernare, meaning “to pass the winter,” which in turn comes from hibernus, meaning “winter.”