73. Why These Holiday Words Are Spelled the Way They Are: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa
Holiday Word Study: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa
In this cozy, end-of-year episode, we’re slowing things down for a short and joyful holiday word study investigation. Instead of a full instructional deep dive, this episode invites you to get curious about three words we hear everywhere this time of year:
- Christmas
- Hanukkah
- Kwanzaa
Together, we explore where these words come from, what their spellings reveal, and how English carries the fingerprints of other languages inside it.
Along the way, you’ll hear about:
- Why <ch> says /k/ in Christmas (and why that’s not an exception)
- Why Hanukkah has multiple accepted spellings
- How Kwanzaa was intentionally named and spelled with meaning in mind
- What holiday words teach us about word origin, orthography, and meaning
This episode is a reminder that English spelling isn’t random and that it always makes more sense when we look beyond the surface.
For more word study nuggets, check out Logos Live: mine & Sarah Paul’s monthly coaching calls through Logos Literacy Academy where we go on even more deep dives! (If you enroll in any one of our courses, you get 2 years of free access to Logos Live as a bonus!)
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Interested in Learning More about Morphology?
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