Belfast

English

Etymology

From Irish Béal Feirste (literally “mouth of the River Farset”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛl.fæst/, /ˈbɛl.fɑːst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bel‧fast
• Rhymes: -ɛlfɑːst, -ɛlfæst

Proper noun

Belfast

2. The capital and largest city of Northern Ireland.
   • 2026 September 3, Ollie Samuels, “Memory man aims to learn Pi to 70,000 decimal places”, in BBC News‎^[1], retrieved 4 September 2026:

     Originally from Belfast, Tom worked the cabaret circuit in Blackpool after he memorised the telephone numbers of every hotel, guest house, holiday flats, pub, café and restaurant for the whole of the Fylde - 16,000 numbers.

3. A place named for either the city in Northern Ireland or another place also named as such.
   1. A suburb of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
   2. A town in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
   3. A community and rural municipality in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
   4. A locale in the United States:
      1. An unincorporated community in Lassen County, California; named for the city in Maine.
      2. An unincorporated community in Bryan County, Georgia.
      3. A city, the county seat of Waldo County, Maine.
      4. A township in Murray County, Minnesota.
      5. An unincorporated community in Newton County, Missouri.
      6. A ghost town in Greeley County, Nebraska.
      7. A town and census-designated place therein, in Allegany County, New York.
      8. An unincorporated community in Clermont County, Ohio.
      9. An unincorporated community in Highland County, Ohio.
      10. A ghost town in Licking County, Ohio.
      11. A township in Fulton County, Pennsylvania.
      12. A census-designated place in Plainfield Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
      13. An unincorporated community in Marshall County, Tennessee.

Derived terms

• Belfast confetti
• Belfast sink

Translations

capital of Northern Ireland

• Arabic: بِلْفَاسْت m (bilfāst)
• Bengali: বেলফাস্ট (bn) (belphasṭ)
• Bulgarian: Бе́лфаст m (Bélfast)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貝爾法斯特 / 贝尔法斯特 (zh) (Bèi'ěrfǎsītè)

• Dutch: Belfast
• Esperanto: Belfasto
• Estonian: Belfast
• Finnish: Belfast (fi)
• French: Belfast (fr) m
• German: Belfast (de) n
• Greek: Μπέλφαστ (el) m (Bélfast)
• Gujarati: બેલ્ફાસ્ટ (belphāsṭ)
• Hindi: बेलफ़ास्ट (belfāsṭ)
• Indonesian: Belfast
• Irish: Béal Feirste m
• Italian: Belfast f
• Japanese: ベルファスト (ja) (Berufasuto)
• Korean: 벨파스트 (ko) (Belpaseuteu)
• Macedonian: Белфаст m (Belfast)
• Malay: Belfast
• Malayalam: ബെൽഫാസ്റ്റ് (belphāsṟṟŭ)
• Maltese: Belfast
• Marathi: बेलफास्ट n (belphāsṭa)
• Polish: Belfast (pl) m
• Portuguese: Belfast (pt)
• Punjabi: ਬੈਲਫਾਸਟ (bailphāsaṭ)
• Russian: Бе́лфаст (ru) m (Bélfast)
• Scots: Bilfawst, Bilfaust
• Scottish Gaelic: Beul Feirsde
• Spanish: Belfast (es)
• Swedish: Belfast (sv)
• Tamil: பெல்ஃபாஸ்ட் (pelfāsṭ)
• Telugu: బెల్ఫాస్ట్ (belphāsṭ)
• Thai: เบลฟาสต์ (bel-fáas)
• Turkish: Belfast

  Ottoman Turkish: بلفاست (Belfast)

• Welsh: Belffast m

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈb̥elfɑːst/, [ˈb̥elfɑːst]
• Rhymes: -elfɑːst
• Hyphenation: Bel‧fast

Proper noun

Belfast (genitive Belfasti, partitive Belfasti)

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Declension

Declension of Belfast (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		Belfast	—
accusative	nom.
	gen.	Belfasti
genitive			—
partitive		Belfasti	—
illative		Belfasti Belfastisse	—
inessive		Belfastis	—
elative		Belfastist	—
allative		Belfastile	—
adessive		Belfastil	—
ablative		Belfastilt	—
translative		Belfastiks	—
terminative		Belfastini	—
essive		Belfastina	—
abessive		Belfastita	—
comitative		Belfastiga	—

Further reading

• “Belfast”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “Belfast”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• Belfast in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛlˌfaːst/, (also) /bɛlˈfaːst/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Belfast n (proper noun, genitive Belfasts or (optionally with an article) Belfast)

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Maltese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Irish

English Belfastder.

Maltese Belfast

Derived from English Belfast, from Irish.

Proper noun

Belfast m

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Irish Béal Feirste

English Belfastbor.

Polish Belfast

Borrowed from English Belfast, from Irish Béal Feirste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛl.fast/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlfast
• Syllabification: Bel‧fast

Proper noun

Belfast m inan

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Declension

Declension of Belfast

	singular
nominative	Belfast
genitive	Belfastu
dative	Belfastowi
accusative	Belfast
instrumental	Belfastem
locative	Belfaście
vocative	Belfaście

Further reading

• “Belfast”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Proper noun

Belfast f

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /belfast/, [ˈbelfast]
• Rhymes: -elfast
• Hyphenation: Bel‧fast

Proper noun

Belfast m inan (genitive singular Belfastu, declension pattern of dub)

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

References

• “Belfast”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /belˈfast/ [belˈfast̪]
• Rhymes: -ast
• Syllabification: Bel‧fast

Proper noun

Belfast ?

1. Belfast (the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland)

Derived terms

• belfastiano (“Belfastian”) (Demonym)