fête

See also: fete, Fete, fêté, fetĕ, and fețe

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French fête.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feɪt/, /fɛt/
• Rhymes: -eɪt

Noun

fête (plural fêtes)

1. Alternative spelling of fete

Verb

fête (third-person singular simple present fêtes, present participle fêting, simple past and past participle fêted)

1. Alternative spelling of fete
   • 1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     This is not, of course, to say that the British — or even the Americans — are positively popular or fêted here.

Anagrams

• ETFE, feet, teef

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French feste, from Old French feste, from Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛt/
  • (France, Paris, une fête) IPA^(key): [yn fɛt]
  • Homophones: fait, faite, faîte, faites, faîtes, fêtes, fêtent
• IPA^(key): /fɛːt/ (older, now chiefly Belgium and Canada)
  • (Belgium, une fête) IPA^(key): [yn fɛːt]
  • (Canada, Estrie, une fête) IPA^(key): [ʏn ˈfæ̈ɪ̯tʰ]
  • (Canada, Abitibi, informal) IPA^(key): [fɑɪ̯tʰ]
  • (Canada, Ottawa, informal) IPA^(key): [faɪ̯tʰ]
  • Homophones: faîte, faîtes, fêtes, fêtent

Noun

fête f (plural fêtes)

1. winter holidays (always in plural)

   Tu fais quoi pour les fêtes (de fin d’année)? ― What will you do for the (winter) holidays? (literally, “the end-of-year holidays”)

2. party

   Synonyms: teuf, partie, nouba

   Je fais une fête chez moi ce soir! ― I'm throwing a party at my place tonight! (literally, “I'm doing a party”)

3. (Christianity) name day

   Le 18 mai, c’est la fête des Éric. ― May 18 is the name day of people named Eric.

4. (Canada, Missouri, New England, Louisiana) birthday

   Bonne fête! ― Happy birthday!

Derived terms

• bonne fête
• Douze Grandes Fêtes
• être à la fête
• faire fête
• faire la fête
• faire sa fête
• fêtard
• fête champêtre
• fête des Mères
• fête des Pères
• fête des Rois
• fête du Travail
• fête foraine
• fête galante
• fêter
• joyeuses fêtes

 

Related terms

• festif
• festival

 

Descendants

• → English: fête
• → German: Fete
• → Polish: feta

Verb

fête

1. inflection of fêter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “fête”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French feste, from Late Latin fēsta, from the plural of Latin fēstum.

Pronunciation

• (Jersey) IPA^(key): /feit/

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Noun

fête f (plural fêtes)

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) holiday