Springtime means the season of spring — the months when the weather turns warm again, plants start growing and flowers open. It means almost exactly the same as 'spring' on its own, so why does English keep both? Feeling. 'Spring' is the plain, neutral word you use for facts: 'We're moving in spring.' 'Springtime' sounds warmer and slightly poetic — it points at the whole atmosphere of the season rather than the calendar slot. You meet it in songs, poems, travel writing and adverts ('Paris in the springtime'), less often in ordinary talk about dates. It also gets used as a picture of youth or of a fresh, hopeful beginning: 'the springtime of her life' means when she was young. Note that both words can feel odd in Taiwan, where the year is not really cut into four equal seasons the way the word assumes.