Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fat tuesday

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.42 in modern English

Syllables: fat tues-day
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The Tuesday before the onset of Lent.

Example Sentences

"This Tuesday and Wednesday, four holidays from different cultures and religions overlap in a rare calendar year. The celebrations of Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Lunar New Year both occur on Tuesday, Feb. 17 [2026]. This won't happen again until Feb. 13, 2029, according to the websites chinahighlights.com and mardigrasneworleans.com. Ramadan is expected to start Tuesday evening, pending official confirmation, and Lent ([which begins on] Ash Wednesday) begins on Feb. 18. Last year, Ramadan and Lent began within a week of each other on Feb. 28 and March 5. The holidays are all happening within two days this year because several long solar, lunar and lunisolar calendar cycles sync up. Lunar New Year happens on the second new moon after winter solstice, which is also Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) — 47 days before Easter Sunday."

Etymology

Calque of French mardi gras (“fat Tuesday”).

Synonyms

Mardi Gras Shrove Tuesday pancake day

Questions

What does fat tuesday mean?: The Tuesday before the onset of Lent.
Where does fat tuesday come from?: Calque of French mardi gras (“fat Tuesday”).

How to pronounce fat tuesday

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