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Halloween

Etymology and origin of the English word Halloween

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌha.ləˈwiːn/, /ˌha.ləʊˈiːn/ (UK); /ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/, /ˌhɑ.ləˈwiːn/ (US)[1]

Etymology

A Scottish shortening of All-Hallow-even,[2][3][1] “the evening before All Hallows”, that is, the eve of All Saints' Day.[2][4][5] It is formed from hallow “saint, holy person” (inherited from Middle English halwe, inherited from Old English hālga) and even, an old form of eve “evening”.[2][4][6][1] The Old English name of the feast was ealra hālgan “all saints”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The last night of October, kept as a popular festival, first recorded in a Scottish context in the 1560s.[2][6] Barnhart dates Halloween to about 1745 and the fuller All hallow eve to 1556,[3] and Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1700.[5] The date was already called alle halwe eue around 1300.[2]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that in the Celtic calendar the year began on 1 November, so the last night of October was the old year's night, the night of witches, which the Church turned into the eve of All Saints.[3] Old Scottish poetry describes the fairy court riding out “on Alhallow euen”.[2] The word, and the magic lore around the night, were made popular by Robert Burns's poem Halloween (1785).[2] Today it is celebrated with costumes, trick-or-treating and jack-o'-lanterns.[4][5][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – alle halwe eue, “the eve of All Saints”.[2]
  • mid-15th century – All Hallowen, All Hallows even.[2]
  • 1556 – All hallow eve.[3]
  • 1560s – Halloween, in Scotland.[2]
  • 1785 – Burns's poem Halloween.[2]

Modern meaning

Proper noun

  1. The evening of 31 October, the eve of All Saints' Day, celebrated especially by children who dress in costumes and go from door to door asking for treats.

Related words

References

  1. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. [1] [2] [3] [4] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. [1] [2] [3] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. [1] [2] [3] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House

Related etymologies

  • nostril · also from Old English
  • nickname · also from Old English
  • clue · also from Old English
  • silly · also from Old English
  • gossip · also from Old English
  • uncouth · also from Old English
  • ghost · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Halloween.” Etymologically, 7 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/Halloween. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .