weihnachten

== German == === Etymology === Back-formation from Weihnachten, originally coined in 1862 by the poet Theodor Storm in the poem "Knecht Ruprecht". === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈvaiˌnaχtn] === Verb === weihnachten (weak, third-person singular present weihnachtet, past tense weihnachtete, past participle geweihnachtet, auxiliary haben) (impersonal) to be nearly Christmas; to have a Christmassy atmosphere ==== Usage notes ==== Used impersonally with es in the same way as in English ‘it rains’. Other forms are rare or nonexistent. ==== Conjugation ==== === Further reading === “weihnachten” in Duden online “weihnachten”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[3] (in German)