Yule
noun
Christmas, or the Christmas season.
Yule
American
[yool]
/ jul /
Also
yule
noun
-
Christmas, or the Christmas season.
-
an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.
yule
British
/ juːl /
noun
Usage
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.
Etymology
Origin of Yule
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Consider the original Yule Logs, massive oak trunks that Vikings burned for the duration of the Midwinter solstice to rebuke the long darkness.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
Yule was also an instructor who taught at Juilliard, Columbia University and at HB Studio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2025
Celebrated by cultures all over the world for thousands of year, the winter solstice is also known as Yule, a celebration of light and the symbolic rebirth of the sun.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2023
Daniel Yule, who won the race last year for the third time, lost his balance and the Swiss skier missed a gate in his second run.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
“Hey, Yule May,” I say, thinking what a small town this is.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
The yule log, for example, existed during the Viking era.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
Television has long been referred to as the electronic hearth, but the yule log’s ubiquity in the streaming era shifts that notion into oddly literal territory.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
After an intimate March release party at Neumos, the Kraken investor gets his first real, uh, crack at the house of hockey with this two-night holiday blowout just days before lighting the YouTube yule log.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 11, 2023
Host Jesse Palmer challenges the competitors with five styles of yule log cakes in 10 flavor combinations.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2021
The yule log burned on the hearth and flaming torches filled the sconces.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
