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"festival" in seven languages

Meaningfestival

Spanish

festival

/festiˈbal/

masc.borrowed · English festival

French

festival

/fɛstival/

masc.borrowed · English festival

plural: festivals

Italian

festival

/ˈfɛstival/

masc.borrowed · English festival

Invariable, stressed on the first syllable.

Portuguese

festival

/festʃiˈvaw/

masc.borrowed · English festival (partly via French)

Romanian

festival

/festiˈval/

neut.borrowed · French festival

Catalan

festival

/fəstiˈbal/

masc.borrowed · English festival

English

festival

/ˈfɛstəvəl/

from Latin/French · Old French festival 'festive', from Latin

English → ItalianfestivalfestivalCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

FESTĪVUM‘festive, of a feast’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

The plain Latin FESTA was inherited as fiesta, fête and festa; the music-and-film festival came back from English. French plural festivals breaks the usual -al → -aux rule, a sign of the loan.

English relatives: feast, festive, fiesta

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In a sentence

  • esEl festival empieza el viernes.
  • frLe festival commence vendredi.
  • itIl festival comincia venerdì.
  • ptO festival começa na sexta.
  • roFestivalul începe vineri.
  • caEl festival comença divendres.
  • enThe festival starts on Friday.

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