festival

• feastiuall (obsolete)

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”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛstɪvl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛstəv(ə)l/

• Audio (General American):

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• Hyphenation: fes‧tiv‧al

festival (comparative more festival, superlative most festival)

1. Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     the temple of the Gods […] / Whom all the people decke with girlands greene, / And honour in their festiuall resort […]

festival (countable and uncountable, plural festivals)

1. (biblical) A feast or feast day.
   • 2009, “Deuteronomy 16:16”, in Holman Christian Standard Bible:

     All your males are to appear three times a year before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed.

2. An event or series of special events centred on the celebration or promotion of some theme or aspect of the community, often held at regular intervals.

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

   A Welsh eisteddfod is a literary festival.

3. In mythology, a set of celebrations in the honour of a god.
4. (Caribbean, Jamaica, uncountable) Fried cornbread.

• festal
• festive
• festivity
• festivities

• heortology (study of festivals), festilogy (treatise on festivals)

Borrowed from Old French festival, from Latin fēstīvālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [fəs.tiˈβal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [fəs.tiˈval]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [fes.tiˈval]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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festival m (plural festivals)

1. festival

• festival de cinema (“film festival”)

• festa

• “festival”, 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

Via French festival, from Latin fēstīvālis.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɛstɪval]

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: fe‧s‧ti‧val

festival m inan

1. festival (an event or community gathering)

• “festival”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “festival”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “festival”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Via English festival, from Latin festivalis.

festival c (singular definite festivalen, plural indefinite festivaler)

1. a festival

• “festival” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from English festival, from Old French festival, from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛs.tiˌvɑl/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: fes‧ti‧val

festival n (plural festivals, diminutive festivalletje n)

1. a festival (festive event or gathering)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ˈfestivɑl/, [ˈfestʲivɑl]

festival (genitive festivali, partitive festivali)

1. festival

Declension of festival (ÕS type 19/seminar, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		festival	festivalid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	festivali
genitive			festivalide
partitive		festivali	festivale festivalisid
illative		festivali festivalisse	festivalidesse festivalesse
inessive		festivalis	festivalides festivales
elative		festivalist	festivalidest festivalest
allative		festivalile	festivalidele festivalele
adessive		festivalil	festivalidel festivalel
ablative		festivalilt	festivalidelt festivalelt
translative		festivaliks	festivalideks festivaleks
terminative		festivalini	festivalideni
essive		festivalina	festivalidena
abessive		festivalita	festivalideta
comitative		festivaliga	festivalidega

• filmifestival

• “festival”, in [PSV] Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik [Dictionary of Estonian Basic Vocabulary] (in Estonian) (online version, not updated), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2014
• “festival”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “festival”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• festival in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

English festival, from Old French festival.

• IPA^(key): /fɛs.ti.val/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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festival m (plural festivals)

1. festival

• → Greek: φεστιβάλ (festivál)
• → Turkish: festival

• “festival”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

festival (plural festival-festival)

1. festival

• festivale

Borrowed from English festival.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛs.ti.val/, (traditional) /fes.tiˈval/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛstival, (traditional) -al
• Hyphenation: fè‧sti‧val, (traditional) fe‧sti‧vàl

• Audio:

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festival m (invariable)

1. festival
2. worker's festival

• mostra
• rassegna

• festivaliere
• festivaliero

From Latin festivalis, via English festival.

festival m (definite singular festivalen, indefinite plural festivaler, definite plural festivalene)

1. a festival

• “festival” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin festivalis, via English festival.

festival m (definite singular festivalen, indefinite plural festivalar, definite plural festivalane)

1. a festival

• “festival” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From French festival, ultimately from Latin fēstīvālis.

festival m (plural festivais)

1. festival

• “festival”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “festival”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French festival.

• Audio:

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festival n (plural festivaluri)

1. festival

festìvāl m inan (Cyrillic spelling фестѝва̄л)

1. festival

• praznik

• IPA^(key): /festival/, [ˈfestiʋal]
• Rhymes: -ival
• Hyphenation: fes‧ti‧val

festival m inan (declension pattern of dub)

1. festival

• “festival”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

• IPA^(key): /festiˈbal/ [fes.t̪iˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: fes‧ti‧val

festival m (plural festivales)

1. festival

• “festival”, 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

festival c

1. a festival (event)

   gå på festival

   go to a festival

• pridefestival

• festival in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• festival in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Borrowed from French festival.

• IPA^(key): [festiˈval]
• Hyphenation: fes‧ti‧val

festival (definite accusative festivali, plural festivaller)

1. festival

   Synonym: şenlik

• “festival”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “festival”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı