Diwali

See also: diwali

English

Alternative forms

• Dewali, Divali

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi दिवाली (divālī), from Sanskrit दीपावलि (dīpāvali, literally “row of lights”), from दीप (dīpa, “light”) + आवलि (āvali, “series, line, row”). Doublet of Deepavali.

Pronunciation

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /d̪iˈʋɑli/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈwɑːli/, /dɪˈvɑːli/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈwɑli/, /dɪˈvɑli/
• Rhymes: -ɑːli
• Hyphenation: Di‧wa‧li

Proper noun

Diwali (plural Diwalis)

1. (Hinduism) An annual festival of light, observed during several days in October and November.
   • 2024 October 30, Chandelis Duster, “Millions of people celebrate Diwali this week. Here is what you should know”, in NPR‎^[1]:

     Around one billion people worldwide and across the U.S. will celebrate Diwali this week.

   • 2025 October 7, Deepa Bharath, “California makes Diwali an official statewide holiday”, in KCRA‎^[2]:

     While Diwali is a major religious festival for Hindus, it is also observed by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.

Usage notes

The terms Diwali or Divali are more common in North India while Deepavali is more prevalent in South India due to the loaning of each term from local source languages. This difference extends to diaspora communities, with areas that have seen more migration from one region adopting that term for the festival.

Synonyms

• Festival of Lights
• Deepavali, Deepawali (more often used in Malaysia and Singapore)
• Kali Puja (more often used in Bangladesh, Bengal, and Odisha)

Translations

Hindu festival of lights

• Arabic: دِيوَالِي (dīwālī)
• Assamese: দেৱালী (dewali), দীপাৱলী (dipawoli)
• Bengali: দীপাবলি (bn) (dipaboli), দেওয়ালি (bn) (deōẇali)
• Bulgarian: Дива́ли (Diváli)
• Burmese: ဒီပါဝလီ (my) (dipawa.li), ဒေဝါလီ (dewali)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屠妖節 / 屠妖节 (zh) (Túyāojié), 排燈節 / 排灯节 (Páidēngjié)

• Danish: Divali
• Dutch: Divali, Diwali
• Finnish: diwali, divali, deepavali
• German: Diwali
• Gujarati: દિવાળી f (divāḷī), દીપાવલી f (dīpāvalī)
• Hindi: दिवाली (hi) f (divālī), दीवाली f (dīvālī), देवाली (hi) f (devālī), दीपावली (hi) f (dīpāvlī), दीपावलि (hi) f (dīpāvli), दीपाली (hi) f (dīpālī), दीपोत्सव (hi) m (dīpotsav), दीपमालिका (hi) f (dīpmālikā), दीपमाली (hi) f (dīpmālī), सुखरात्रि (hi) f (sukhrātri)
• Indonesian: Deepavali, Dipawali
• Irish: Díbheálaí m
• Japanese: ディーワーリー (Dīwārī)
• Kannada: ದೀಪಾವಳಿ (kn) (dīpāvaḷi)
• Konkani: दिवाळी (divāḷī)
• Malay: Deepavali (ms)
• Malayalam: ദീപാവലി (ml) (dīpāvali)
• Marathi: दिवाळी f (divāḷī), दीपावली f (dīpāvlī)
• Marwari: दियाळी f (diyāḷī)
• Nepali: तिहार (ne) (tihār), दीपावली (dīpāwlī)
• Odia: ଦୀପାବଳୀ (dipābaḷi)
• Persian: دوالی (fa) (devâli), دیوالی (divâli), دیپاولی (dipâvali)
• Portuguese: Diwali m, Divali m
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਦਿਵਾਲੀ (pa) (divālī), ਦੀਵਾਲੀ (pa) f (dīvālī), ਦੀਪਾਵਲੀ (dīpāvalī)

  Shahmukhi: دوالی (divālī), دیپاولی (dīpāvalī)

• Russian: Дива́ли m (Diváli), Дипа́вали m (Dipávali)
• Sanskrit: दीपावलि (sa) f (dīpāvali), दीपाली (sa) f (dīpālī)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Дивали, Дипавали

  Roman: Divali, Dipavali

• Sindhi: دیاری (dyari)
• Sinhalese: දීපාවලි (dīpāwali)
• Spanish: Diwali, Divali, festival de las luces
• Tamil: தீபாவளி (ta) (tīpāvaḷi)
• Telugu: దీపావళి (te) (dīpāvaḷi)
• Tulu: ദീപാവളി (dīpāvaḷi)
• Turkish: Divali
• Ukrainian: Діва́лі m (Diváli), Діпа́валі m (Dipávali)
• Urdu: دوالی f (divālī), دیپاولی f (dīpāvalī)

Dutch

Alternative forms

• Divali

Etymology

From Hindi दिवाली (divālī).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diˈʋaː.li/

Proper noun

Diwali ?

1. (Hinduism) Diwali

Further reading

• Diwali on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Portuguese

Proper noun

Diwali m

1. alternative form of Divali