Plural of winter; the cold season of the year, or periods of hardship and difficulty.
From Old English 'winter,' possibly related to Old Norse 'vetr' and Latin 'ventus' (wind). Interestingly, its origin may connect to 'wet' or wind-filled season in Indo-European languages.
'Winter' has been used metaphorically for death and hardship since ancient literature—think 'The Stark family's words are "Winter is coming"'—because harsh winters were genuinely deadly in pre-industrial times.
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