Fiesta

How to spell fiesta

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce fiesta

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fiesta mean?

1. nounA festive celebration or lively party, especially one of Spanish or Latin American origin.

Fiesta in a sentence

• The town held a colourful fiesta to mark the end of the harvest.

• They planned a backyard fiesta with music, food, and lanterns.

Where does fiesta come from?

Language of origin: Spanish

This word comes straight from Spanish fiesta, meaning a festival, holiday, or party. The Spanish word descends from the Latin festa, which was originally the plural of festum, meaning a religious feast day or holy celebration; over time Latin neuter plurals like this were often reinterpreted as singular feminine nouns in the Romance languages, which is how festa came to mean a single celebration. The same Latin root sits behind the English words 'feast', 'festival', and 'festive', so a fiesta is quite literally a feast under another name. English adopted fiesta in the nineteenth century, originally describing the religious festivals of Spain and Spanish-speaking America, before broadening to mean any lively party. The spelling keeps its Spanish shape exactly, which is why the easily forgotten point is the 'ie' vowel pairing rather than a simple 'ee'.

How the word is built

• fiest- (from Latin festa: feast, holiday)
• -a (Spanish noun ending)