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Glite Dictionary
Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day

4 2.9
A holiday on March 17 when people celebrate Saint Patrick and Irish culture
  • noun
  • /seɪnt ˈpætrɪks deɪ/
translation icon : Día de San Patricio
  • Saint Patrick's Day.
  • Saint Patrick's Day parade

Examples

Synonyms

St Patrick's Day
vsSaint Patrick's Day
2.0

A public holiday on 17 March when people celebrate Irish culture by wearing green and joining parades

is the same holiday but written in the full traditional form
St Patty's Day
vsSaint Patrick's Day
  • Informal
3.7

A holiday on March 17 that celebrates Irish people and culture

is the formal traditional name rather than the casual, informal form

Surface Forms

Saint Patrick's Day singular
Saint Patrick's Days plural

Morphology

saint + Patrick's + day

The structure 'saint + [name]'s + day' is compositionally clear: a B1 learner who knows 'saint' and 'day' and understands the possessive will infer this is a day dedicated to or in honor of Saint Patrick. This naming pattern for saints' feast days is cross-linguistically common, so learners can derive that it denotes a holiday even if they may not know the exact date or cultural practices.

Etymology

Saint Patrick's Day comes from Saint Patrick, a man who brought Christianity to Ireland long ago; one popular story says he used a three-leaf shamrock to explain the idea that God is three and one. That's why on March 17 people 'wear green' and celebrate 'Irish culture' today.