festa

Borrowed from Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, and Maltese festa. Doublet of fete, fiesta, feast, and fest.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛstə/
• Rhymes: -ɛstə

festa (plural festas)

1. A public holiday or feast day in Italy, Portugal, etc.

• fetas, TAFEs, Feast, feats, Fates, feast, fates, atefs

Borrowed from Spanish fiesta.

• IPA^(key): /fes̺ta/ [fes̺.t̪a]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -es̺ta, -a
• Hyphenation: fes‧ta

festa inan

1. feast, festival

   Synonyms: besta, jai

2. party, partying

   Synonym: parranda

• “festa”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “festa”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Inherited from Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum. Compare Occitan fèsta or hèsta.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfes.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfes.ta]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -esta

festa f (plural festes)

1. celebration; party

• “festa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “festa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “festa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “festa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfesta/
• Rhymes: -esta
• Syllabification: fes‧ta

festa (accusative singular festan, plural festaj, accusative plural festajn)

1. festive

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese festa, from Late Latin fēsta.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfesta/
• Rhymes: -esta
• Syllabification: fes‧ta

festa f (plural festas)

1. party
2. festivity, holiday

   Synonyms: festividai, fistiviai, fistividai

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 143

From Old Norse festa.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɛsta]

festa (third person singular past indicative festi, third person plural past indicative fest, supine fest)

1. to fasten, to make fast

• festa fót (“make a settlement”)

festa (Old Beaujolais, Old Dauphinois)

1. alternative form of féta (“party, celebration”)

• festa in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “fĕsta”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 3: D–F, page 482

From Old Galician-Portuguese festa, from Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɛs̺tɐ]

festa f (plural festas)

1. festival

   Synonyms: feira, festival

2. party

   Synonym: esmorga

3. holiday; festivity

   Synonyms: día de festa, día festivo, día santo

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “festa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “festa”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “festa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “festa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “festa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛsta/
• Rhymes: -ɛsta

From Old Norse festa.

festa (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative festi, supine fest)

1. to fasten [with accusative]
2. to determine, fix, settle [with accusative]

• festing

festa f (genitive singular festu, no plural)

1. resoluteness, steadfastness

   Synonyms: staðfesta, stöðugleiki

From Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstus (“festive”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛs.ta/

• Audio (IT):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsta
• Hyphenation: fè‧sta

festa f (plural feste)

1. feast
2. holiday (civil)
3. (in the plural) holidays (British), vacation (US)
4. fair (often in combination)

• → Japanese: フェスタ
• → Maltese: festa (or from Sicilian)

• sfate

From Latin festa (“party, feast”).

festa f

1. party, feast

From Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum.

festa f (plural festes)

1. (official) holiday

• fēsta:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfeːs.ta]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛs.ta]
• fēstā:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfeːs.taː]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛs.ta]

From the plural of fēstum. See main entry there for more.

fēsta f (genitive fēstae); first declension

1. (Medieval Latin) party, feast

First-declension noun.

See descendants under fēstum.

fēsta

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural of fēstum

fēsta

1. inflection of fēstus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

fēstā

1. ablative feminine singular of fēstus

festa f (please provide plural)

1. party (a celebration)

   Émmo fæto 'na festa de Dênâ.

   We had a Christmas party.

From Portuguese festa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛʃtɐ/, /ˈfɛstɐ/

festa

1. party, fete, gala

   Synonym: fonçám

   festa di quebrâ testa ― big party; solemn commemoration (literally, “party of break forehead”)

   festa di fichâ ano ― birthday party

2. celebration
3. festival

   Quelê-tánto náchi-náchi na festa

   There were many Chinese people at the festival

4. (religion) feast

   missa festa ― high mass (literally, “mass feast”)

• bô-festa

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

Borrowed from Sicilian festa and/or Italian festa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛːs.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɛːsta

festa f (plural festi, diminutive festin)

1. festivity, feast

   Synonyms: festività, għors (obsolete)

2. feast, celebration, party
3. name day
4. holiday, vacation

• festet

festa

1. inflection of feste:
   1. simple past
   2. past participle

From Old Norse festa, from Proto-Germanic *fastijaną. Factitive of fast (“(stead)fast”).

(rent farming land): Calque of Danish fæste.

• feste (e- and split infinitives)

festa (present tense festar or fester, past tense festa or feste, past participle festa or fest, present participle festande, imperative fest)

1. to fasten, to make fast
2. to rent a farming land, to copyhold

   Synonym: bygsla

From fest +‎ -a, the first part being derived from Latin festum.

• feste (e- and split infinitives)

festa (present tense festar, past tense festa, past participle festa, passive infinitive festast, present participle festande, imperative festa/fest)

1. to party

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• festi (non-standard since 2012)

festa

1. definite singular of fest f
2. definite plural of feste n

• “festa” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• faste

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸʲes.t̪a/

From earlier fecht (“occasion”) +‎ -sa (“this”).

festa

1. now, forthwith
2. henceforth

• feasta

·festa

1. second-person singular past subjunctive/conditional prototonic of ro·finnadar

From Proto-Germanic *fastijaną.

festa (past participle festr)

1. to fasten

Related to Etymology 1 above ("fasten").

festa f (genitive festu)

1. bail, pledge

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

festa

1. inflection of festr:
   1. strong feminine accusative singular
   2. strong masculine accusative plural
   3. weak masculine oblique singular
   4. weak feminine nominative singular
   5. weak neuter singular

festa

1. genitive plural indefinite of festr

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “festa”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

• efast, stefa

From Old Galician-Portuguese festa, from Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum.

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛstɐ, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -ɛʃtɐ
• Hyphenation: fes‧ta

festa f (plural festas, diminutive festinha or festazinha or festim, augmentative festona or festão)

1. party

   Vamos começar a festa. ― Let's get the party started.

   A festa acabou. ― The party's over.

2. celebration
3. festival
4. (religion) feast
5. (figurative) caress

   Synonyms: festinha, afago, carinho, carícia, mimo

   Fazer festas ao gato. ― Pet the cat.

• Kabuverdianu: festa
• Macanese: festa
• → Bengali: ফেস্তা (phesta)
• → Konkani: फेस्त (phesta)
• → Malay: pesta
  • Indonesian: pesta
• → Sranan Tongo: fesa
  • → Dutch: fissa
• → Tetum: festa

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

festa

1. inflection of festar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “festa”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “festa”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “festa”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “festa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• fësta

Inherited from Latin festa (“feast”).

• (Central Romagnol) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛːstɐ]

festa f (plural fest) (Faenza)

1. feast, festival

• IPA^(key): /ˈfesta/ [ˈfes.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -esta
• Syllabification: fes‧ta

festa f (plural festas)

1. obsolete spelling of fiesta

• “festa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From fest +‎ -a.

• Homophone: fästa

festa (present festar, preterite festade, supine festat, imperative festa)

1. to party (to celebrate at a party)

   Synonyms: partaja, kalasa

• festa in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• festa in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• faste

From Portuguese festa, from Latin fēstum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfes.ta]

festa (Jawi فست)

1. a party, celebration, feast day

• pesta

• festa sara toca (“the candle lighting celebration”)

• Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890), Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh