Feast, Festival and Fair All Come From One Word
A feast is a large meal or a religious festival. The Latin root behind it means holidays, and it produced several English words.
A feast is a large celebratory meal, or a religious festival honouring a saint or event. Latin *festa*, holidays, gave English four separate words by different routes: *feast* through Old French, *festival* through Latin directly, *fair* from *feria*, a holy day, and *fiesta* borrowed later from Spanish. The meal and the holiday are the same idea, because feasting was what a holy day meant. *Feast or famine* describes a supply that is either overwhelming or absent.
- A large meal. *A wedding feast.*
- A religious festival. *The feast of St Nicholas.*
- To eat heartily. *They feasted for hours.*
- Feast or famine — extremes. *It's feast or famine.*
- Festival — from the same root. *A music festival.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | feast | A great feast. |
| Plural | feasts | Church feasts. |
| Verb | feast | They feasted. |
| Related | festival | A festival. |
| Latin | festa | Holidays. |
- The village held a harvest feast.Meal.
- The feast day falls in December.Church calendar.
- Work is feast or famine.Idiom.
The festa family
- Feast — through Old French *feste*
- Festival — directly from Latin *festivalis*
- Fair — from *feria*, a holy day with a market
- Fiesta — borrowed from Spanish
- Festive — of a celebration
Old French *feste*, from Latin *festa*, the plural of *festum*, a holiday or feast day.
Is a feast the same as a festival?
They come from the same root. Feast usually means the meal or a specific holy day; festival means the wider celebration.
Why is a fair related?
Fair comes from Latin feria, a holy day. Markets were held on holy days, and the market took the name.