festival
fes·tiv·al/ˈfɛstəvəl/adjective, noun
festival is spelled F-E-S-T-I-V-A-L: 8 letters and 3 syllables (fes·tiv·al). It appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, festival means “Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in festival?
| Letters | 8: F-E-S-T-I-V-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: fes·tiv·al |
| In writing | 52 times per million words; the 1,941st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is festival?
Festival appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce festival?
- UK /ˈfɛstɪvəl/
- UK [ˈfɛstɪvl̩]
- US /ˈfɛstəvəl/
Festival has 3 syllables, split fes·tiv·al in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-festival.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of festival
- more festival comparative
- most festival superlative
- festivals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does festival mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)
noun
- 1
A feast or feast day.
- 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.
- 3
In mythology, a set of celebrations in the honour of a god.
- 4
Fried cornbread.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Festival in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense event or community gathering:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does festival come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).