February 14
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- noun
- /ˈfɛb.ruːˌɛr.i ˈfɔːrˈtɛn/
:
14 de febrero
- On February 14, flowers and chocolates are often given as tokens of affection.
- February 14: Valentine
Examples
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Please come to our wedding on February 14 at St. Francis church.
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Many couples exchange gifts to show their love on February 14.
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Everyone looks forward to February 14 for Valentine's Day celebrations filled with romance.
Synonyms
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A day on February 14 when people show love with cards, gifts, or flowers
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A holiday on February 14 when people show love and give cards or gifts
A day on February 14 when people give cards and flowers to loved ones
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'February' and 'fourteen' can transparently identify the lexical items as the calendar date Feb 14, but the specific meaning 'Valentine's Day' (a cultural holiday of exchanging affection) is not derivable from the constituent words alone. Recognizing the date is straightforward cross-linguistically, yet the holiday association requires cultural/world knowledge or prior exposure, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
February 14 may come from a story about Saint Valentine, a priest who, one popular story says, secretly married soldiers and was put to death on that date. People later remembered him as a sign of 'love', so February 14 became the day for sending cards and gifts.