the.com/winter solstice

means The moment, once a year, when the sun reaches its lowest arc and the day is shortest before the slow swing back toward longer light.

from From Latin sol ('sun') and sistere ('to stand still') — because around this point the sun's daily rising and setting positions on the horizon seem to pause before reversing direction. The word reached English through Old French 'solstice,' but the phenomenon it names was tracked long before the word existed — ancient peoples built monuments like Newgrange and Stonehenge to catch the exact angle of that 'standing still' sun.