Summers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The plural form of the warmest season of the year, typically characterized by long days and short nights
2. Refers to multiple occurrences of the season between spring and autumn, known for warm temperatures and outdoor activities
3. Denotes more than one period of summer, often associated with holidays, vacations, and growth in nature

Etymology: The plural "summers" simply counts the warm seasons, and the noun behind it, "summer", is one of the oldest words in English. Its root reaches back to a prehistoric ancestor language where a form of ""sem-" meant "summer", and the same root gave Sanskrit "sámā", meaning a half-year or season, and Welsh "haf". Old English "sumor" came from a Germanic form, ""sumaraz", and it has siblings across the Germanic languages today, including German "Sommer", Dutch "zomer" and Swedish "sommar". Oddly, the English word did not start life as a name for the season alone. Its older linguistic sense ties it to the year itself, which suggests the seasons were counted as halves of a yearly cycle, a link still visible in Sanskrit's "a half-year, season, weather, year". The plural form "summers" is simply the regular plural of the noun, used whenever someone refers to several separate summers, as in "those long summers of childhood."

Synonyms: seasons, warm periods