Etymology

holiday

hol·i·day
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Today it means: A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed. Full definition →

Middle English halyday ← Old English hāliġdæġ ← Proto-Germanic *hailagadagaz
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holiday · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kéh₂ilos
  2. Proto-Germanic*hailaz
  3. Proto-Germanic*hailagaz
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰegʷʰ-?
  5. Proto-Germanic*dagaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*hailagadagaz
  7. Old Englishhāliġdæġ
  8. Middle Englishhalyday
  9. English todayholiday

From Middle English halyday, holyday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (“holy day, Sabbath”), equivalent to holy + day. Compare West Frisian hjeldei (“holiday”), Danish helligdag (“holiday”), Norwegian helligdag (“holiday”), Swedish helgdag (“holiday, feast”).

Holiday · proper noun2

English surname, variant of Holliday.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.