Definition

1. Noun:
   • Winter solstice: The astronomical event that occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It is the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year, marking the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Ở Việt Nam, đông chí thường rơi vào khoảng ngày 21 hoặc 22 tháng 12. (In Vietnam, the winter solstice usually falls around December 21 or 22.)
  • Nhiều nền văn hóa có lễ hội để đánh dấu ngày đông chí. (Many cultures have festivals to mark the winter solstice day.)

Advanced Usage

• "Tiết đông chí": This is a more formal or traditional term, often used in the context of the 24 solar terms in the East Asian lunisolar calendar. "Tiết" means solar term.
  • Tiết đông chí là một trong những tiết khí quan trọng. (The winter solstice solar term is one of the important solar terms.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hạ chí (Noun): Summer solstice. The day with the longest period of daylight.
• Phân điểm (Noun): Equinox. Either of the two times in the year when the sun crosses the celestial equator, and day and night are of equal length.
  • Xuân phân: Vernal/Spring equinox.
  • Thu phân: Autumnal/Fall equinox.

Synonyms

• Winter solstice: The direct and most common English equivalent.
• Midwinter: A term sometimes used poetically or traditionally to refer to the winter solstice period.

Related Phrases

• Ngày đông chí: The day of the winter solstice.
  • Ngày đông chí năm nay là ngày nào? (What day is the winter solstice this year?)

1. Winter solstice