feast

B1 Topic:Food & Drink

US /fiːst/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like fist /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Freq #4724

Meanings

1

noun
A large, special meal, often to celebrate something.

We had a huge feast to celebrate the harvest.
2

verb
To eat a large amount of good food with great enjoyment.

They feasted on roast turkey and all the trimmings.
3

noun
A religious festival or holiday.

The town holds a procession on the feast of its patron saint.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a large, special meal,... banquet

Word family

Forms feastedfeastingfeasts

Derived forms afterfeastbean-feastbeanfeastbirthfeastfeasterfeastfulfeastingfeastlessfeastlikefeastlyfeastwarefeasty

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

feast day
a day set aside for a religious or communal celebration

Noun + noun

Proverbs (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Feast has referred to the celebration of special occasions since the Middle Ages and goes back to Latin festus “joyous.”

Etymology

From Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest. Displaced Old English winhate.

*dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European feeste Middle English feste Old French festa la-lat festum Latin *fēs-tos Proto-Italic *dʰéh₁s Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# feast

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /fiːst/
**Frequency rank:** 4724

## Meanings
1. A large, special meal, often to celebrate something.
2. To eat a large amount of good food with great enjoyment.
3. A religious festival or holiday.

## Examples
- We had a huge feast to celebrate the harvest.
- They feasted on roast turkey and all the trimmings.
- The town holds a procession on the feast of its patron saint.

## Derived Forms
- afterfeast
- bean-feast
- beanfeast
- birthfeast
- feaster
- feastful
- feasting
- feastless
- feastlike
- feastly
- feastware
- feasty

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰeh₁-
- Root: feeste
- Root: feste
- Root: festa
- Root: festum
- Root: *fēs-tos
- Root: *dʰéh₁s

## Etymology
From Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest. Displaced Old English winhate.

## AI Etymology
Feast comes from Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest. Displaced Old English winhate. In current use, the main senses are “A large, special meal, often to celebrate something” and “To eat a large amount of good food with great enjoyment”.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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