Ember day
Syllables: Em·ber day/ˈɛmbə ˌdeɪ/US/ˈɛmbɚ ˌdeɪ/
Ember day noun: any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. In Western Christianity they are usually the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross Day (14 September), and Saint Lucy's Day (13 December).
Noun
Ember day (plural Ember days)
- Any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. In Western Christianity they are usually the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross Day (14 September), and Saint Lucy's Day (13 December).
- Days of Faſting or Abſtinence. [...] The Ember-days at the four Seaſons, being the Wedneſday, Friday, and Saturday after #92;#123; the First Sunday in Lent. / The Feaſt of Pentecoſt. / September 14. / December 13.1662, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Tables & Rules for the Moveable and Immoveable Feasts; together with the Days of Fasting and Abstinence, through the Whole Year”, in The Book of...
- Saints Days, &c. [...] 9 [...] Ember-week [...] 11 [...] Ember-day [...] 12 [...] Ember-day1715, Job Gadbury, “MARCH hath xxxi Days”, in ΈΦΗΜΕΡΙΣ [EPHEMERIS]: Or, A Diary Astronomical, Astrological, Meteorological, for the Year of Our Lord, 1715. […], London: Printed for T. W. for the...
- Synonyms:
- Embering
Ember day meaning in Vietnamese
Ember day in Vietnamese
- any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, set aside for fasting and prayer
- Chay mùa
Synonyms of Ember day
Forms of Ember day
| plural | Ember days |
|---|---|
| alternative form | ember day |
Origin of Ember day
From Middle English ember-dai, imber-dai, imbre-dai (“Ember day”), from Old English ymbrendæg. Ymbren is possibly a corrupted form of Old English ymbryne (“period, revolution of time”), from ymb (“around, about”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“around, about”)) + ryne (“path along which motion occurs; course”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r ̊-nw- (“to flow, move, run”)). Alternatively, Ember could be a corruption of Latin quatuor tempora (“four periods”), from which German Quatember (“Embertide”) is derived.
Questions about Ember day
- What does Ember day mean?
- Ember day means any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. In Western Christianity they are usually the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross Day (14 September), and Saint Lucy's Day (13 December).
- What is Ember day in Vietnamese?
- Ember day in Vietnamese is Chay mùa. See Ember day meaning in Vietnamese.
- What part of speech is Ember day?
- Ember day is a noun.
- How do you pronounce Ember day?
- Ember day is pronounced /ˈɛmbə ˌdeɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of Ember day?
- The plural of Ember day is Ember days.
Words near Ember day in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Ember day (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Ember day.wav.
Cite this entry: “Ember day.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ember_day. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
