Phrase guide

Twelve Days of Christmas

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany; Christmas season, Christmas time, Christmastide, Twelvetide. The Christmas season traditionally ended with the feast of the Epiphany on January 6.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An 18th-century English Christmas carol which describes a series of successively grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِثْنَا عَشَر يَوْمَا مِن عِيد الْمِيلَاد (iṯnā ʕašar yawmā min ʕīd al-mīlād) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Belarusian: свя́ткі (svjátki) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Belarusian: каля́дныя свя́ткі (kaljádnyja svjátki) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Bengali: বড়দিনের বারো দিন (boṛdiner barō din) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Finnish: joulunaika — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • French: Douze jours de Noël — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Galician: doce días de Nadal — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • German: zwölf Weihnachtstage — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • German: die Zwölften — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Greek: Δώδεκα ημέρες των Χριστουγέννων (Dódeka iméres ton Christougénnon) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Hindi: क्रिस्मस के बारह दिन (krismas ke bārah din) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Italian: Dodici giorni di Natale — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Japanese: クリスマスの十二日間 — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Komi-Zyrian: вежадыр (vežadyr) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Korean: 크리스마스의 열두 일 (keuriseumaseuui yeoldu il) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Eastern Mari: свӓткӓ (svätkä) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Western Mari: свӓткӓ (svätkä) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Polish: dwanaście dni Świąt Bożego Narodzenia — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Portuguese: Doze dias de natal — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: свя́тки (svjátki) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: Рожде́ственские свя́тки (Roždéstvenskije svjátki) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: Двена́дцать дней Рождества́ (Dvenádcatʹ dnej Roždestvá) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: коля́ды (koljády) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: святы́е дни (svjatýje dni) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Russian: святы́е (svjatýje) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Spanish: Doce días de Natal — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Tibetan: བཅུ་གཉིས་ཉི་མའི་ཡེ་ཤུའི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར། (bcu gnyis nyi ma'i ye shu'i 'khrungs skar) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Udmurt: вожодыр (vožodyr) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany
  • Ukrainian: свя́тки (svjátky) — the season or time made up of the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany