autumn

See also: Autumn

English

Etymology

From Middle English autumpne, from Old French automne, from Latin autumnus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ôʹtəm
  • IPA^(key): /ˈɔːtəm/
  • IPA^(key): /ˈɔtəm/, [ˈɔɾɪ̈m], [ˈɔɾm̩]

  • audio (UK):

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  • Audio (US):

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ɔːtəm
• Hyphenation: au‧tumn

Noun

autumn (countable and uncountable, plural autumns)

Autumn in the United States

1. Traditionally the third of the four seasons, when deciduous trees lose their leaves; typically regarded as being from September 24 to December 22 in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and the months of March, April and May in the Southern Hemisphere.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.

2. (by extension) The time period when someone or something is past its prime.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House:

     She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn.

   • 2014, Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel & Lubomír Batka, The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology, →ISBN:

     It has been portrayed as the well-intended yet wrongly directed reaction to latter-day scholasticism, or as the harvest of medieval theology in its autumn years, as a revolution that is theological, political, economic, cultural—or all of the above.

   • 2014, Berch Berberoglu, The Global Capitalist Crisis and Its Aftermath, →ISBN:

     Unlike the decline of British hegemony, in the current world-system no military or economic contender has emerged to replace US hegemony. Even though the US SCA has entered its autumn with the Vietname War and the economic crisis of the mid-1970s, there has been no legitimate hegemonic contender capable of instituting a new global regime to resolve both social and economic contradictions of global capitalism.

   • 2014, May Sarton, At Seventy: A Journal, →ISBN:

     The autumn of life is also a matter of saying farewell, but the strange thing is that I do not feel it is autumn.

3. (fashion) A person with relatively dark hair and a warm skin tone, seen as best suited to certain colours in clothing.

Usage notes

Note that season names are not capitalized in modern English except where any noun would be capitalized, e.g. at the beginning of a sentence or as part of a name (Old Man Winter, the Winter War, Summer Glau). This is in contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always capitalized (Thursday or September).

Synonyms

• (season): (US, Canada) fall, (UK dialect) harvest, (UK dialect) back end.
• (time when past prime): decline.

Derived terms

• autumn bells
• autumn colors, autumn colours
• autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale)
• autumn equinox
• Autumnfest
• autumn fever
• autumn fly ()
• Autumn Harvest Uprising
• autumn ice
• autumnise, autumnize
• autumnish
• autumn meadowhawk ()
• autumn olive ()
• autumn pumpkin
• autumn romance
• autumn rustic
• autumn skullcap ()
• autumn sneezeweed ()
• autumn-spring
• autumn term
• autumn-time
• autumny
• German Autumn
• Hot Autumn
• mid-autumn

 

Related terms

• autumnal
• autumnal equinox
• autumnian
• autumnity
• Dendrocygna autumnalis
• Lacus Autumni
• ,

 

Translations

season

• Abaza: дзны (dznə)
• Abkhaz: ҭагалан (tagalan), хкаарачан (xkʼaaračan)
• Adyghe: бжыхьэ (bžəḥɛ)
• Afrikaans: herfs (af)
• Albanian: vjeshtë (sq)
• Amharic: መፀው (mäṣ́äw), በልግ (bälg)
• Arabic: خَرِيف m (ḵarīf)

  Egyptian Arabic: خريف m (ḵarīf)

• Armenian: աշուն (hy) (ašun)
• Aromanian: toamnã f
• Assamese: শৰৎকাল (xorotkal), শৰৎ (xorot)
• Asturian: seronda (ast) f
• Atayal: hawqan abaw
• Avar: хасалихълъи (xasaliqxlˢi)
• Azerbaijani: payız (az)
• Bashkir: көҙ (köź)
• Basque: udazken (eu)
• Belarusian: во́сень f (vósjenʹ), (adverb, in autumn) уво́сень (uvósjenʹ), ўво́сень (ŭvósjenʹ)
• Bengali: (early) শরৎ (śorot), (late) হেমন্ত (bn) (hemôntô)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} diskar-amzer (br) m
• Brunei Malay: musim luruh
• Bulgarian: е́сен (bg) f (ésen)
• Burmese: ဆောင်းဦး (my) (hcaung:u:)
• Catalan: tardor (ca) f
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⵎⵡⴰⵏ (amwan)
• Central Melanau: musim laraih
• Chechen: гуьйре (güüre)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 秋天 (cau¹ tin¹), 秋季 (cau¹ gwai³)

  Dungan: чютян (či͡uti͡an)

  Hakka: 秋季 (chhiû-kui)

  Mandarin: 秋天 (zh) (qiūtiān), 秋季 (zh) (qiūjì)

  Min Nan: 秋天 (chhiu-thiⁿ)

• Chuvash: кӗркунне (kĕrk̬unne)
• Cornish: kynnyav m
• Crimean Tatar: küz
• Czech: podzim (cs) m
• Dalmatian: autun
• Danish: efterår (da), høst (da) c
• Dargwa: гӏебшни (ʿebšni)
• Dutch: herfst (nl) m, najaar (nl) n
• Esperanto: aŭtuno (eo)
• Estonian: sügis (et)
• Evenki: болони (boloni)
• Faroese: heyst n
• Finnish: syksy (fi)
• French: automne (fr) m
• Friulian: autun m, Autun m, atom m, Atom m, sierade f, Sierade f, Sorunviêr
• Galician: outono (gl) m
• Gallurese: attugnu, ottugnu, vaggjmu
• Georgian: შემოდგომა (ka) (šemodgoma)
• German: Herbst (de) m, Herbstzeit (de) f
• Greek: φθινόπωρο (el) n (fthinóporo)

  Ancient: (early) ὀπώρα f (opṓra), (late) φθινόπωρον n (phthinópōron)

• Greenlandic: ukiaq, (old orthography) ukiaĸ
• Guaraní: araroguekúi
• Gujarati: પાનખર (pānkhar)
• Hebrew: סתיו \ סְתָו (he) m (s'táv)
• Hindi: शरद् f (śarad), पतझड़ (hi) (patjhaṛ)
• Hungarian: ősz (hu)
• Hunsrik: Herrebst m
• Icelandic: haust (is) n
• Ido: autono
• Ilocano: duppo
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} musim gugur
• Ingush: гуйре (gujre)
• Interlingua: autumno (ia)
• Interlingue:
• Irish: fómhar m
• Italian: autunno (it) m
• Japanese: 秋 (ja) (あき, aki), 秋季 (ja) (しゅうき, shūki), 秋期 (ja) (しゅうき, shūki)
• Kabardian: бжьыхьэ (bźəḥɛ)
• Kalmyk: намр (namr)
• Kannada: ಶರತ್ಕಾಲ (kn) (śaratkāla)
• Karachay-Balkar: къач (qaç), кюз (küz)
• Karelian: sygyzy
• Kashubian: jeséń (csb) f
• Kazakh: күз (kk) (küz)
• Khmer: សរទៈ (km) (saʼraʼtĕəʼ)
• Klamath-Modoc: sʔaLam
• Korean: 가을 (ko) (ga'eul)
• Kumyk: гюз (güz)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

  Sorani: پاییز (payîz), خەزان (xezan)

• Kyrgyz: күз (ky) (küz)
• Lak: ссут (s:ut)
• Lao: ລະດູໃບໄມ້ຫລົ່ນ (la dū bai mai lon), ລຶດູໃບໄມ້ຫລົ່ນ (lư dū bai mai lon)
• Latgalian: rudiņs
• Latin: autumnus m
• Latvian: rudens m
• Lezgi: зул (zul)
• Ligurian: aotùnno m
• Lithuanian: ruduo (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Harvst m, Harvsttiet f

• Luxembourgish: Hierscht (lb) m
• Macedonian: есен f (esen)
• Malay: musim gugur, musim luruh
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malayalam: ശരത്കാലം (ml) (śaratkālaṁ)
• Maltese: ħarifa f
• Manchu: (^{(please verify)} [script needed] (bolori))
• Mansi:
• Maori: ngahuru
• Marathi: शरद (śarad)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari:

• Mingrelian: დამორჩილი (damorčili)
• Moksha: сёксе (śokśe)
• Mongolian: намар (mn) (namar)
• Montagnais: takuatshin
• Navajo: aakʼee, aakʼeed
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: erchéyant m (Guernsey), autaomme m (Guernsey), S'tembre m (Jersey), arryire (continental Normandy)
• North Frisian: Hārefst f (Sylt)
• Northern Sami: čakča
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høst (no) m

  Nynorsk: haust (nn) m

• Occitan: auton (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: ѥсень f (jesenĭ)

• Old East Slavic: осень f (osenĭ)
• Old English: hærfest m
• Old Prussian: assanis
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Ossetian: фӕззӕг (fæzzæg)
• Pashto: منى m (mᶕnay), خمسور (ps) m (xamsór), خزان (ps) m (xazãn), پاڼ رېژ m (paṇréž), پاڼي رژون m (paṇirəžún)
• Persian: پاییز (fa) (pâyiz), خزان (fa) (xazân)
• Polish: jesień (pl) f
• Portuguese: outono (pt) m
• Punjabi: پت جھڑ (پت جھڑ), ਪਤਝੜ (patjhaṛ)
• Romanian: toamnă (ro) f
• Romansch: atun m, utuon
• Russian: о́сень (ru) f (ósenʹ)
• Rusyn: о́синь f (ósynʹ)
• Sanskrit: शरद (sa) (śarada)
• Sardinian: atonzu, atongiu, atognu

  Campidanese: attonzu

  Logudorese: attonzu

• Sassarese: attugnu
• Scots: back-end, hairst
• Scottish Gaelic: foghar m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јесен f

  Roman: jesen (sh) f

• Sicilian: autunnu (scn)
• Sinhalese: සරත් ඍතුව (sarat r̥tuwa)
• Slovak: jeseň (sk) f
• Slovene: jesén (sl) f
• Somali: dayr
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nazyma f, nazymje n

  Upper Sorbian: nazyma f

• Spanish: otoño (es) m
• Sudovian: asenis m
• Svan: მუჟღვერ (mužɣver)
• Swahili: vuli (sw), majira ya pukutiko, kipindi cha bubujiko
• Swedish: höst (sv)
• Tabasaran: чвул (č°ul)
• Tagalog: taglagas (tl)
• Tajik: тирамоҳ (tg) (tiramoh), поиз (poyiz)
• Tamil: இலையுதிர்காலம் (ta) (ilaiyutirkālam)
• Tat: поризэ
• Tatar: көз (tt) (köz)
• Telugu: శరత్కాలం (śaratkālaṁ), ఆకురాలుకాలం (ākurālukālaṁ)
• Thai: ใบไม้ร่วง (bai-máai-rûuang), ฤดูใบไม้ร่วง (th) (rʉ́-duu-bai-máai-rûuang), หน้าใบไม้ร่วง (nâa-bai-máai-rûuang)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tigrinya: ቀውዒ (ḳäwʿi)
• Tlingit: yeis
• Turkish: sonbahar (tr), güz (tr), yaprak dökümü (tr), hazan (tr)
• Turkmen: güýz
• Udmurt: сӥзьыл (siźyl)
• Ukrainian: о́сінь f (ósinʹ)
• Urdu: خزان f (xizān, xazān), پائیز m (pāʼīz), سرد (ur) f (sarad), خزاں (xzā̃)
• Uyghur: كۈز (küz)
• Uzbek: kuz (uz)
• Venetian: utuno (vec), otuno m, auton m
• Vietnamese: mùa thu (vi) (務秋), thu (vi) (秋 (vi))
• Vilamovian: hiewyst
• Volapük: fluküp (vo)
• Votic: sütšüze
• Welsh: hydref (cy)
• West Frisian: hjerst
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Winnebago: cąąnį
• Wolof: lolli
• Yakut: күһүн (kühün)
• Yiddish: האַרבסט (yi) n (harbst), אָסיען m (osyen)
• Yoruba: àkókò ìkórè, ìgbà ogbò
• Yup'ik: uksuaq
• Zazaki: payız, hazan
• Zhuang: cou, seizcou
• Zulu: ukwindla class 17, ikwindla class 5/6

Adjective

autumn (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to autumn; autumnal

   autumn leaves

   • Template:RQ:EHough PrqsPrc

     Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

Translations

autumnal — see autumnal

See also

• Indian summer