Christmases or Christmasses – plural of Christmas?
Grammar > What is the plural of Christmas – Christmases, Christmasses, Christmas’ or Christmas’s?
Published on 7th January 2023
Edited by: Mary S., high school English grammar and vocabulary teacher
The plural form of Christmas can be confusing, especially as the word ends with the letter “s”.
This is a really common question when it comes time for celebrating the holiday season.
The correct plural form of Christmas is Christmases. Other incorrect forms or similar uses of the word we often see are Christmasses, Christmas’s and Christmas’s.
Let’s take a closer look at these different forms of the word Christmas and when to use them.
Contents
Meaning of Christmas
Christmas refers to the holiday to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.
It is typically celebrated on December 25th.
In some countries or types of Christianity, it is celebrated instead on the 7th of January.
Single, Plural and Other Forms of the word Christmas
Let’s clear up some of the confusion.
Singular of Christmas
The singular form is simply Christmas.
See some examples of the singular word Christmas used in a sentence:
- “Christmas is my favourite holiday of the year.”
- “I can’t wait for Christmas to get here!”
- “I am getting so many cool presents for Christmas this year!”
It is the plural version that gets a bit confusing.
Christmases
The plural of Christmas is Christmases.
To form the plural form of the word, you should add an “-es” to the end, resulting in the word Christmases.
It refers to multiple instances of the holiday.
It is the correct way to spell the plural form of the word Christmas.
Here are some examples of the word when you are referring to more than one Christmas:
- “We usually have two Christmases every year – one with my family and one with my spouse’s family.”
- “My family celebrates Christmases twice actually, once on the 25th of December and another on the 7th of January. This is because I am American and my partner is Serbian.”
- “My family always has a big celebration for all Christmases.”
- “This Christmas is more fun than past Christmases because we get to go ice skating.”
Remember that when you form the plural of a word that ends in “s”, such as Christmas, you should always add an “-es” at the end. Another plural that has similar confusion is the plural of yes.
And you should not just add an apostrophe.
So, Christmases is the correct plural form of the word – Christmas’s for example is incorrect when used as the plural.
Christmasses
Is Christmasses a word?
No.
Christmasses is the incorrect spelling of the correct word Christmases.
The writer will generally have the same intent of meaning, but the spelling is clearly wrong.
Avoid using Christmasses.
Christmas’s
Is Christmas’s a word?
Yes, it is.
But it does not mean multiple instances of Christmas (ie Christmases).
It should be avoided in this context.
What is the meaning of Christmas’s?
So now we know that Christmas’s is the incorrect spelling for the plural form of Christmas.
However, it does have a meaning when used correctly.
By adding an apostrophe and an “s” to the end of the word, it is used to indicate possession or ownership.
Or simply, something that belongs to Christmas.
It is rare you would ever need to use this word.
Some examples of the possessive form in use are:
- “I always look forward to Christmas’s tradition of gift giving.”
- “This Christmas’s events are looking bigger compared to last Christmas.”
- “Christmas’s holiday spirit always brings great joy.”
Christmas’
This is just another way to write the possessive form of Christmas. Or once again, something belonging to Christmas.
As an example:
- “Christmas’ holiday spirit is really obvious here in New York.”
This form is used even less frequently.
But ultimately, you can choose whether to add the extra “s” or no in the possessive form.
Just remember to be consistent.
Sound It Out – Christmases
It can be helpful to “sound out” the word in order to determine the correct spelling of words in English.
As you can see, it not too useful to distinguish between these words.
For example, when forming the plural of “Christmas,” you should add an “-es” to the end, as the word should sound like “kris-miss-iz.”
Similarly, when forming the possessive form of the word, you should add an apostrophe and an “s” to the end, as the word should sound like “kris-miss-iz.”
Popularity of the Search Term Online
A search for the exact term “Christmases” on Google in January of 2023 yielded over 5 million results.
A search for the exact term “Christmas’s” during the same January only resulted in 1.5 million results.
In comparison, a search for the exact term “Christmas” received nearly 2 billion results.
What does this tell us?
From these results, it is clear that the singular form of the word is the most popular and widely used.
However, it is important to remember that all three forms – Christmases, Christmas’s, and Christmas – are correct, depending on the context in which they are used.
To conclude – Christmases is the plural to use
The correct plural form of “Christmas” is Christmases, and it is the form that should always be used.
Chrismasses is not correct, it is the wrong spelling.
Christmas’s and Christmas’ are sometimes used to indicate something that belongs to Christmas. But these words are not used too often, so you don’t need to stress about them a lot.
Do you make errors when you write or spell in English?
Or do you have any tips to remember how to remember to write Christmases correctly?
Also let me know if there is any other confusing English words you would like us to cover on Compare it Versus.
Please drop your tips and comments in the section below or send us a message.
Wishing all your future Christmases to be happy ones!
References
References and data used in the writing of this article
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary, accessed in January of 2023 for word definitions, link to Merriam-Webster page
- Oxford English Dictionary, accessed in December 2022, link to Oxford page
- Wikipedia Christmas page, accessed in January 2023
- Google search engine for popularity of search terms, search completed in January 2023
- How Often Should website, reference on how often things are or should be done, accessed December 2022
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