festival

A1 Topic:Film & Television

US /ˈfɛstəv(ə)l/ UK /ˈfɛstɪvl̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #3292

Meanings

1

noun
A series of special events celebrating something, such as music, film, or culture.

The Reading and Leeds festivals take place on the August bank holiday.
2

noun
A day or period of celebration, often religious.

Diwali is an important festival in India.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a series of special events... fete

Word family

Forms festivals

Derived forms festiefestivalgoerfestivalistfestivalizationfestivalizefestivallyfestivalwearfestymacrofestivalmegafestivalminifestivalnonfestival

Related forms festalfestilogyfestivefestivitiesfestivityheortology

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

harvest festival
a celebration marking the gathering of a season's crops

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Festival entered English in the Middle Ages and derives from Latin festivus, which is closely related to Latin festus “joyous,” the source of feast.

Etymology

From Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). By surface analysis, festive + -al. Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”).

*dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European festival Middle English fēstīvālis la-lat fēstīvus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Film & Television Entertainment & Leisure

External links

# festival

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈfɛstəv(ə)l/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈfɛstɪvl̩/
**Frequency rank:** 3292

## Meanings
1. A series of special events celebrating something, such as music, film, or culture.
2. A day or period of celebration, often religious.

## Examples
- The Reading and Leeds festivals take place on the August bank holiday.
- Diwali is an important festival in India.

## Derived Forms
- festie
- festivalgoer
- festivalist
- festivalization
- festivalize
- festivally
- festivalwear
- festy
- macrofestival
- megafestival
- minifestival
- nonfestival

## Related Forms
- festal
- festilogy
- festive
- festivities
- festivity
- heortology

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰeh₁-
- Root: festival
- Root: fēstīvālis
- Root: fēstīvus

## Etymology
From Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). By surface analysis, festive + -al. Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”).

## AI Etymology
Festival comes from Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). By surface analysis, festive + -al. Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”). In current use, the main senses are “A series of special events celebrating something, such as music, film, or culture” and “A day or period of celebration, often religious”.

## Topics
- Film & Television
- Entertainment & Leisure

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