Ash Wednesday

• Ashwednesday, Ash-Wednesday

From Middle English Aschewednysday, Axwednesdai, from asshe, axe (“ash”) + Wednesdai, Wednysday (“Wednesday”), from the custom of using the blessed ashes of the previous year's palm fronds (cf. Palm Sunday) to mark the heads of the congregation on the day. By surface analysis, ash +‎ Wednesday.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /æʃ wɛnz.dɛɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Ash Wednesday (plural Ash Wednesdays)

1. (Christianity) The Wednesday 46 days before Easter in a given year, (Catholicism) traditionally observed as the beginning of Lent and a day of strict abstention from certain foods and pleasures.
   • 1834, Penny Cyclopaedia, volume II, page 454:

     Pope Gregory the Great introduced the sprinkling of ashes... which gave it the name of Ash-Wednesday.

   • 2026 February 16, Alicia Eler, “Lunar New Year, Ramadan and Lent in rare alignment this year. The holidays follow different solar and lunar calendars, but some of them sync up in 2026”, in Minnesota Star Tribune‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 February 2026:

     Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, is the last day to feast on rich, fatty foods before the 40-day Lenten season starts the next day, on Ash Wednesday.

2. (cocktail) A cocktail made from a mix of gin, heavy cream, honey syrup, and blackberries

• Ash Monday

• “asshe-wednesdai, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018.