Badnjak will soon be here.
Who? you may be asking - but it's not a who, but a what, because in Croatia Badnjak means Christmas Eve. The njak part of the word translates as yearbook, but what's bad about it I'm afraid I haven't been able to find out.
Lots of languages, like English, basically go for the Christmas-is-coming approach: Portuguese véspera de Natal, Danish: juleaften, French veille de Noel, Swedish julafton, Greek Παραμονή Χριστουγέννων, Roumanian Ajunul Crăciunului, Italian vigilia di Natale.
But in Spanish they have the lovely Nochebuena, which is Good Night; and in Germany and Ukraine it's holy evening: Heiligabend or святий вечір, respectively.
But I think the Czech phrase for Christmas Eve is best of all, so I wish everyone in The Word Den a happy Štědrý den.
It means, very beautifully, Generous Night.
Word To Use Today: eve. This word is a variation of even (the evening sort of even) from the Old English ǣ
PS Family tradition here calls today Christmas Adam, Adam coming, of course, before Eve.
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