Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “feast” come from?

Feast comes from Middle English feeste, from Old French feste, from Latin festum, ultimately deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root dʰeh₁-.

feast (English): A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature;...

Definitions

  1. A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature;...

Ancestry of “feast”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishfeestefeast
2Old Frenchfesteparty; celebration; feast
3Late Latinfestaparty; feast; nominative/accusative/vocative...
4Latinfēsta—
5Latinfestuma holiday, festival; a banquet, feast
6Latinfēstus—
7Proto-Italicfēstos—

Words derived from “feast”

  • feaster
  • feastful
  • beanfeast
  • feasteth
  • feastest
  • feastlike
  • feastless
  • outfeast
  • feastware
  • love feast
Every word from Proto-Italic fēstos →