Since the 18th century, it has sometimes been misunderstood as synonymous with the astronomical winter solstice, which the word also can refer to in contemporary English.
[2] Old English midwinter could indirectly also mean the winter solstice, which was regarded as 25 December in Anglo-Saxon England, following the Julian calendar and the localisation of Jesus' birth to this date.
[5] According to Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (c. 1230), the pre-Christian holiday Yule was originally celebrated at midwinter, but in the 10th century, the king Haakon the Good moved it to the same day as Christmas, about three weeks earlier.
In Scandinavia, in popular language since the medieval period, midwinter can refer to the period from the middle of January to the middle of February, which usually is the coldest part of the year in northern Europe, sometimes with Candlemas as winter's midpoint.
[11] The Cambridge Dictionary says that "midwinter" can mean the winter solstice in modern English.