December: the twelfth month of the year.

December follows November, and precedes January.

In the ancient Roman calendar, December was the tenth month of the year. Naturally, the ancient Romans wanted a creative name for the month, so, they named the month December… which basically means “the tenth month”.

At some point, calendar reforms shifted the year back two months. December was the tenth month until sometime around 150 BC.

The Roman word, December, replaced the Old English Ærra Gēola which means “before yule”. Yule itself may refer to an old Norse festival dedicated to Odin.