carnival

See also: Carnival

English

Etymology

From French carnaval, from Italian carnevale, possibly from the Latin phrase carnem levāmen ("meat dismissal"). Other scholars suggest Latin carnuālia ("meat-based country feast") or carrus nāvālis ("boat wagon", "float") instead.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹnɪvəl/, /kɑɹnəˈvɑl/ (referring to specific festivals in various countries)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

carnival (plural carnivals)

1. Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.

   Carnival of Brazil

   Venice Carnival

2. A festive occasion marked by parades and sometimes special foods and other entertainment.
   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

3. (US) A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English.

   We all got to ride the merry-go-round when they brought their carnival to town.

   When the carnival came to town, every one wanted some cotton candy.

Coordinate terms

• mardi gras

Derived terms

• blog carnival
• carnivalesque
• carnival glass
• carnivalic
• carnivalistic
• carnivalize
• carnivallike
• carny
• noncarnival
• surf carnival
• winter carnival

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: カーニバル

Translations

festival held just before the beginning of Lent

• Finnish: laskiainen (fi); karnevaali (fi) (Catholic)
• German: Fastnacht (de) f
• Mòcheno: Vosnòcht f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zapust m

• Spanish: carnestolendas (es) f pl

festive occasion marked by parades

• Albanian: karnaval (sq) m
• Arabic: كَرْنَفَال‎ m (karnafāl)

  Egyptian Arabic: مرفع‎ m (marfaʿ)

  Hijazi Arabic: كَرْنَڤَال‎ m (karnavāl), كرنفال‎ m (karnafāl)

• Asturian: antroxu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: karnaval
• Basque: inauteria
• Belarusian: карнава́л m (karnavál)
• Bengali: কার্নিভাল (karnibhal)
• Bulgarian: карнава́л m (karnavál)
• Catalan: carnestoltes (ca) m, carnaval (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎠᎾᏛᏁᎵᏍᎬ (anadvnelisgv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 狂歡節 (zh), 狂欢节 (zh) (kuánghuānjié), 嘉年華 (zh), 嘉年华 (zh) (jiāniánhuá)

• Czech: karneval (cs) m
• Danish: karneval n
• Dutch: carnaval (nl) n
• Esperanto: karnavalo
• Estonian: karneval
• Finnish: juhlat (fi) pl, karnevaali (fi)
• French: carnaval (fr) m
• Galician: entroido (gl), antroido m, entruido m
• Georgian: ყეენობა (q̇eenoba), კარნავალი (ḳarnavali)
• German: Karneval (de) m, Fasching (de) m, Fastnacht (de) f
• Greek: καρναβάλι (el) n (karnaváli)
• Hebrew: קָרְנְבָל‎ (he) m (karnevál)
• Hindi: कार्निवल (kārnival)
• Hungarian: karnevál (hu), farsang (hu)
• Icelandic: karnival n, kjötkveðjuhátíð (is) f
• Italian: carnevale (it) m
• Japanese: カーニバル (ja) (kānibaru), 謝肉祭 (ja) (しゃにくさい, shanikusai)
• Kazakh: карнавал (karnaval)
• Korean: 사육제(謝肉祭) (ko) (sayukje), 카니발 (ko) (kanibal)
• Kyrgyz: карнавал (karnaval)
• Latvian: karnevāls m
• Lithuanian: karnavalas m
• Macedonian: карнева́л m (karnevál)
• Maltese: karnival m
• Maori: hui taurima, taiopenga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: karneval (no) n

  Nynorsk: karneval n

• Persian: کارناوال‎ (fa) (kârnâvâl), کارنوال‎ (kârnevâl)
• Polish: karnawał (pl) m
• Portuguese: carnaval (pt) m
• Romanian: carnaval (ro) n
• Russian: карнава́л (ru) m (karnavál)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: карнѐва̄л m, покладе pl

  Roman: karnèvāl (sh) m, poklade (sh) pl

• Slovak: karneval m
• Spanish: carnaval (es) m
• Swedish: karneval (sv) c
• Tagalog: karnabal
• Tajik: карнавал (karnaval)
• Telugu: జాతర (te) (jātara)
• Thai: เทศกาล (th) (têet-sà-gaan)
• Turkish: karnaval (tr)
• Turkmen: karnaval
• Ukrainian: карнава́л m (karnavál)
• Uzbek: karnaval (uz)
• Vietnamese: hội hóa trang (會化妝), hội trá hình (會詐形), các-na-van

traveling amusement park

• Bulgarian: пъту́ващ цирк m (pǎtúvašt cirk)
• Esperanto: amuzejo
• Finnish: tivoli (fi)

Further reading

• carnival on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mardi Gras on Wikipedia.Wikipedia