Etymograph

English

feast

Feast comes from Old French feste ‘party’, from Latin festum ‘holiday, festival, feast’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to do’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-1‘to do’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰéh₁s2‘god, godhead, deity’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fēs-tos2reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfestum2‘holiday, festival, feast’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfesta2‘party, feast’plural of festum
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400feste2‘party’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feeste2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611feast2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English feast
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The seventh day shall be a feast to the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s‘to do’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰéh₁sWiktionary, English feast‘god, godhead, deity’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fēs-tosWiktionary, English feastreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfestumWiktionary, English feast‘holiday, festival, feast’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfestaWiktionary, English feast‘party, feast’plural of festum
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400festeWiktionary, English feast‘party’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feesteWiktionary, English feast
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611feastWiktionary, English feast. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The seventh day shall be a feast to the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to do’

do, fact, hot, deal, fan, benefit, mid, defense, theme, fashion, feature, ethnic, sufficient, defence, custom, ethical, thesis, synthetic, aesthetic, doom, treasury, tick, defendant, deed, treasure, ethic, auditorium, auditor, demi, deem, spade, thematic, ethos, familial, medial, medallion, certify, forfeit, duma, thesaurus, 114 more

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s ‘god, godhead, deity’

fair, theology, dis, atheism, atheist, fanatic, profanity, feral, profane, theism, fane, apotheosis, fayre, theist, 24 more

through Latin festum ‘holiday, festival, feast’

fest, 2 more

through Late Latin festa ‘party, feast’

fiesta, 3 more

through Old French feste ‘party’

fete

Another origin of feast

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500festāre
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fester
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feesten
  4. Englishtodayfeast

Today it means

noun A holiday, festival, especially a religious one

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feast”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- / feast

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