Easter

See also: easter

English

Etymology

From Middle English ester, estern, estre, from Old English ēaster, ēastor, ēastre (“Easter”), apparently from Ēostre, Ēastre, the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ. Cognate with German Low German Oostern (“Easter”), German Ostern and German Osterfest (“Easter”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.stə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈi.stɚ/
• Rhymes: -iːstə(ɹ)

Noun

Easter (countable and uncountable, plural Easters)

1. (Christianity) A Christian feast commemorating the resurrection of Christ; the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox, neither earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.

   We spent each of the past five Easters together as a family.

2. Eastertide
3. (obsolete) The Jewish Passover.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark XIV:

     After two dayes folowed ester, and the dayes of swete breed.

4. (paganism) A festival held in honour of the goddess Eostre or Ostara and celebrated at the spring equinox or within the month of April. Also known as Eostre.

Derived terms

Terms derived from Easter

• Easter Bunny
• Easter day
• Easter egg
• Easterfest

• Easter Monday
• Eastermonth
• Easter Sunday

• Easter term
• Eastertide
• Eastertime

Translations

Christian holiday

• Afrikaans: Paasfees
• Albanian: Pashkët
• Alutiiq: Paas'kaaq
• American Sign Language: E@SideNeckhigh-PalmAcross-E@SideNeckhigh-PalmAcross E@SideNeckhigh-PalmForward-E@SideNeckhigh-PalmForward
• Amharic: ፋሲካ (fasika)
• Arabic: عِيد اَلْفِصْح‎ m (ʿīd al-fiṣḥ)
• Armenian: զատիկ (hy) (zatik)
• Aromanian: Pashti f, Grailu-Mari m, Ngrei-Mari m
• Asturian: Pascua (ast) f
• Azeri: Pasxa, Fish
• Belarusian: Вялі́кдзень m (Vjalíkdzjenʹ), Па́сха f (Pásxa)
• Bengali: ইস্টার (isṭar)
• Biatah Bidayuh: Paskaa
• Bulgarian: Вели́кден m (Velíkden), Възкресе́ние Христо́во n (Vǎzkresénie Hristóvo)
• Burmese: အီစတာ (ica.ta)
• Catalan: Pasqua (ca) f, Pasqua de Resurrecció f
• Cherokee: ᏥᏌ ᏚᎴᎯᏌᏅ (tsisa dulehisanv)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 復活節, 复活节 (fuk⁶ wut⁶ zit³, fau⁶ wut⁶ zit³)

  Hakka: 復活節, 复活节 (fu̍k-fa̍t-chiet)

  Mandarin: 復活節 (zh), 复活节 (zh) (fùhuójié)

  Min Nan: 閣活節, 阁活节 (koh-oa̍h-cheh, koh-oa̍h-choeh)

• Chuvash: Мăн кун (Măn kun)
• Cornish: Pask
• Czech: Velikonoce (cs) f pl
• Dalmatian: puoscua f, puasc, puosc, pasc
• Danish: påske (da) c
• Dutch: Pasen (nl) n, Paasfeest n
• Elfdalian: påsker f pl
• Esperanto: Pasko
• Estonian: Lihavõtted, ülestõusmispühad
• Faroese: páskir f pl
• Finnish: pääsiäinen (fi)
• French: Pâques (fr)
• Friulian: Pasche f
• Galician: Pascua (gl) f
• Georgian: აღდგომა (ka) (aɣdgoma), ზადიკი (zadiḳi)
• German: Ostern (de) n, Osterfest (de) n
• Gothic: 𐍀𐌰𐍃𐌺𐌰 (paska)
• Greek: Πάσχα (el) n (Páscha)
• Greenlandic: poorski
• Hebrew: פַּסְחָא‎ f (páskha)
• Hindi: ईस्टर m (īsṭar)
• Hungarian: húsvét (hu)
• Hunsrik: Oostre
• Icelandic: páskar (is) m pl
• Ido: Pasko (io)
• Indonesian: Paskah
• Irish: An Cháisc f
• Italian: Pasqua (it) f
• Japanese: 復活祭 (ふっかつさい, fukkatsusai), 聖大パスハ (seidai pasuha), イースター (īsutā)
• Komi-Permyak: ыджытлун (ydžytlun)
• Korean: 부활절 (ko) (buhwaljeol)
• Lakota: Woekicetuanpetu
• Latin: pascha f, festa paschālia f
• Latvian: Lieldienas

• Lithuanian: Velykos (lt)
• Livonian: Lejāvõtāmõd
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: Poaske (Gronings)

  German Low German: Oostern (nds) n, Paasch f, Poosch f, Paaschen f, Pooschen f, Oosterfest n

• Luxembourgish: Ouschteren n
• Macedonian: Велигден m (Veligden)
• Malay: Paska
• Malayalam: പെശഹ (peśaha)
• Maltese: Għid il-Kbir
• Manx: Caisht f
• Maori: Aranga
• Mari:

  Western Mari: когечӹ (kogečə̈)

• Moksha: очижи (očiži)
• Navajo: Jesus Daaztsą́ą́dę́ę́ʼ Náádiidzáhígíí Bééhániih
• Norman: Pâques f pl
• Northern Ndebele: Pasika
• Northern Sami: beassážat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: påske (no) m, f

  Nynorsk: påske m, f

• Occitan: Pasqua f
• Old English: ēastre
• Old Irish: Cásc f
• Ossetian: куадзæн (kwaʒæn)
• Persian: عید پاک‎ (eyd-e pâk), ایستر‎ (istar)
• Polish: Wielkanoc (pl) f, Pascha (pl) f
• Portuguese: Páscoa (pt)
• Romanian: Paști (ro), Paște (ro)
• Romansch: Pasca f, Pasqua f
• Russian: Па́сха (ru) f (Pásxa)
• Sardinian: Pasca f
• Scottish Gaelic: a' Chàisg f, Caisg
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Ускрс m, Васкрс m, Вазам m, Вeликден m (arch.)

  Roman: Uskrs (sh) m, Vaskrs (sh) m, Vazam (sh) m, Velikden m (arch.)

• Sicilian: Pasqua f
• Skolt Sami: Ee´jjpei´vv
• Slovak: Veľká Noc f
• Slovene: Velika noč (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: jatšy pl

  Upper Sorbian: jutry pl

• Spanish: pascua (es) f, Pascua
• Swedish: påsk (sv) c
• Tagalog: Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay
• Thai: อีสเตอร์ (íis-dtə̂ə)
• Tongan: Pekia
• Turkish: paskalya (tr)
• Ukrainian: Вели́кдень m (Velýkdenʹ), Па́ска f (Páska), Па́сха f (Pásxa)
• Venetian: Pàscua (vec) f
• Vietnamese: Lễ Phục Sinh, Phục Sinh
• Walloon: Påke (wa) f
• Welsh: Pasg
• Yiddish: פּאַסכע‎ (paskhe)
• Yup'ik: Paaskaaq

See also

• Pasch
• Passover
• Passion Sunday

• Palm Sunday
• Maundy Thursday
• Good Friday

Anagrams

• Teresa, aretes, arsete, arêtes, asteer, earset, eaters, ratees, reseat, saeter, seater, staree, teares, teaser