Chilly temperatures, throngs of holiday shoppers, and festive family meals can only mean one thing: The winter season, or should we say, wintertide, is upon us. “Wintertide” is a 12th-century word synonymous with “wintertime,” though “wintertide” is probably seen only in literature now. Of course, this isn’t the only archaic winter-season word that’s been lost to the history books. Check out some of these antiquated words for gift-giving, cold weather, and even overeating, to elevate your winter repertoire.

The next time you’re walking in the snow, use the word “algid” to describe how you’re feeling — cold. This 17th-century word was documented in Henry Cockeram’s The English Dictionarie of 1623, meaning “chill with cold.” It can be used as a synonym for “frigid” or “arctic,” and it comes from the Latin word algēre, meaning “to feel cold.” However, this once-wintry word is more closely linked with the medical field today. Doctors use “algid” to describe a person with cold, clammy skin and low blood pressure.

While it looks like it should be a rude word, “crapulence” is actually a perfectly cromulent term for holiday parties. This archaic adjective describes a lack of restraint while eating or drinking that ultimately causes headache or illness. (Remind anyone of an extravagant holiday party?) It’s been part of English since the mid-17th century and came from the Latin word crapula, meaning “excessive drinking.”

Millions of people will experience this every winter. “Ninguid” (or “ningid”) means “where much snow is.” It was published in Thomas Blount’s Glossographia in 1661, but it’s unclear when it was first coined. The Latin root nivalis, meaning “snow,” also gives us the adjective “nival,” describing “a place of perpetual snow,” often very high elevations or northern regions.

Most people can appreciate the feeling of the sun on their face during a cold winter day, and “apricity” describes exactly that. Though it’s no longer in most modern dictionaries, it was likely first recorded in Henry Cockeram’s dictionary in the early 17th century. Its entry reads: “Apricitie: The warmness of the Sunne in winter.” It was created from the Latin term apricitas, meaning “sunniness” or “sunshine.” It’s closely related to “apricate,” another old-fashioned term that means “to bask in the sun.”

One of the hallmarks of the holiday season is gift-giving. Though this word is not found in many dictionaries today, “doniferous,” meaning “gift-bearing,” was in use centuries ago. We know it was printed in a 1677 early English dictionary by Elisha Coles.

If something is related to winter, it’s “brumal.” The 16th-century word is seen in early English dictionaries, including Cockeram’s, where it meant “of or belonging to winter.” It’s rarely used today, but is still included in some modern dictionaries as an adjective for “indicative of winter.” It can be seen throughout history and literature, such as in Frederick William Wallace’s 1920 book, The Viking Blood, in the line, “On a brumalNovember day, the Sarmania was to sail on her first trip under the Sutton house-flag.” The word comes from the Latin adjective brumalis (bruma means “winter”).

Many people have a tradition of generosity and giving to charity during the winter season. There are various words for this, but a popular term in the past was “alms,” a noun denoting money, food, or other donations given to those in need. It’s been around since at least 1000 CE, when it was used in Middle English as “almes.” It was derived from the Greek eleēmosýnē, meaning “compassion.”

This synonym for “frozen” dates back to the 13th century as an alteration of “froren” in Middle English. It came from the Old English word frēosan, meaning “to freeze.” Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany used “frore” in his 1912 short-story collection, The Book of Wonder, in the line, “Her beauty was as still sunsets of bitter evenings when all the world is frore, a wonder and a chill.”

The world was very different in 1974. In the U.S., Barbra Streisand was at the top of the pop charts, supermarkets had just introduced barcode scanners, and chicken tenders were considered a cutting-edge culinary innovation. Society has evolved a great deal since those days, and that includes the world of etymology. In some cases, the meaning of a word 50 years ago may be completely different from its modern-day definition. Here are a few words whose usage has drastically changed over the last five decades.

The term “tablet” has a centuries-old definition of “a flat slab of stone, clay, or wood, used especially for an inscription.” The English word dates to the 1300s, though ancient civilizations were using tablets long before; it comes from the Latin tabula (with the same meaning). But today, when you say the word “tablet,” you’re likely referring to a “small portable computer,” such as an iPad. This technological meaning can be traced to 2002, when Microsoft unveiled its Windows XP Tablet — the first major product sold explicitly as a tablet. The term has gained wider use throughout the personal computing industry in the two decades since, and is now synonymous with handheld touchscreen computers.

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” in 1976 to describe a “cultural element or behavioural trait whose transmission… is considered as analogous to the inheritance of a gene.” Essentially, it was used in reference to ideas or cultural behaviors that were passed down from generation to generation, akin to human genetics. But in 1998, amid the rise of internet culture, “meme” came to take on a new, more specific meaning. People used the term to refer to funny images and videos that gained widespread popularity across the internet. Today, “meme” is almost never used in its original context.

“Catfish” was coined in the early 17th century to refer to a type of fish with long barbels around its mouth that look like a cat’s whiskers. The word maintained this sole meaning until the 2000s, when it gained a usage in the world of online dating. The 2010  documentary Catfish popularized the term in the public lexicon. The film followed an individual who developed a fictitious online persona in order to lure someone into a romantic relationship. The term “catfish” reflects the idea of a burgeoning and exciting online romantic relationship, because the species is traditionally used by fishermen to keep other fish alert and engaged. But many people who watched the documentary viewed the act of “catfishing” as deeply off-putting and harmful, and the term developed a highly negative connotation.

In use since the late 1300s, the word “text” has been defined in a multitude of ways. One definition is “written or printed words, typically forming a connected piece of work.” Another meaning refers explicitly to books of Scripture in the Bible, and yet another use is to describe the words of a song. But in the 1990s, “text” became shorthand for “text message,” referring to short, text-based electronic communication. As mobile phones became more common, so did use of the word “text” in this technological context. By 1998, “texting” had become a verb of its own, describing the act of sending electronic text-based messages over the phone.

Telling somebody to “take a chill pill” — i.e., telling them to relax — dates to the 1980s. Yet as far back as the early 15th century, the verb “chill” meant “to grow or become cold.” In 1979, the Sugarhill Gang helped alter that meaning forever with the release of their popular hip-hop track “Rapper’s Delight.” This song featured the lyrics, “Now there’s a time to laugh, a time to cry / A time to live and a time to die / A time to break and a time to chill / To act civilized or act real ill.” The track helped solidify the new meaning of “chill” as the act of calming down and taking it easy.

“Ain’t” ain’t like any other English word. This contraction conveys a unique tone, and more specifically, doesn’t join two words by removing letters. However, it’s often used as shorthand for “are not,” “is not,” “has not,” and “did not.” Despite its widespread usage, some grammar snobs will argue that “ain’t” has no place in proper American English. But tell that to Bachman-Turner Overdrive — the song title “You Have Not Seen Nothin’ Yet” just isn’t as catchy as the version with “Ain’t.”

While stigmatized today, the contraction was considered to be a proper replacement for the phrases “am not,” “are not,” and “is not” in the early 18th century. In New England, the term evolved into “hain’t,” meaning “has not” or “have not.”

But by the mid-19th century, the word “ain’t” gained a negative reputation it couldn’t shake, primarily thanks to the works of Charles Dickens. Through the popularity of his writings, it became associated with the London Cockney dialect. In turn, “ain’t” was ostracized from the “proper” English club.

However, “ain’t” didn’t disappear. In fact, it regained popularity over the decades, especially in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Caribbean English dialects. Speakers of these dialects often use “ain’t” in place of “didn’t.” (For example, “I ain’t go to the store yesterday.”) “Ain’t” also found a permanent place in the cultural lexicon in the titles of many jazz, Broadway, and R&B songs. To name just a few: “Ain’t Misbehavin’” by Fats Waller, “Ain’t Broadway Grand?” from the musical of the same title, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers, and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations.

You may wonder why we don’t say “amn’t” (as a contraction for “am not”) instead of “ain’t.” Well, we do, or at least we used to. “Amn’t” was a particularly popular term in Ireland and Scotland, though it’s heard less today. Try to say the two terms aloud and you’ll likely understand why “amn’t” fell off in popularity in comparison to “ain’t.”