Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

festivus

/ˈfɛstɪvəs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.13 in modern English

Syllables
Fes-ti-vus
IPA
/ˈfɛstɪvəs/
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A nondenominational holiday featured in a Seinfeld episode, now celebrated (seriously or otherwise) on December 23rd.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Coined by Daniel O'Keefe and popularized on the TV series Seinfeld; either borrowed from Latin fēstīvus or else derived from its English descendants festive and festival by adding the Latin suffix -us.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *dʰeh₁-, fēstīvus

Phrases

Festivus pole

Frequently Paired Words

Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa Yule

Homonyms

festivous

Questions

How do you pronounce festivus?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈfɛstɪvəs/.
What does festivus mean?
A nondenominational holiday featured in a Seinfeld episode, now celebrated (seriously or otherwise) on December 23rd.
Where does festivus come from?
It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce festivus

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “festivus”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈfɛstɪvəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “festivus”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “festivus” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.