mistral

See also: Mistral

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French mistral, from Occitan. Doublet of magistral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈstɹɑːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mis‧tral

Noun

mistral (plural mistrals)

1. A strong cold north-west wind in southern France and the Mediterranean.

   Coordinate terms: tramontana, burle

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 48”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     I saw him, the sea gray under the mistral and foam-flecked, watching the vanishing coast of France, which he was destined never to see again; and I thought there was something gallant in his bearing and dauntless in his soul.

   • 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:

     The mistral had been blowing for three days now and the sea showed more white than blue

Translations

strong cold north-west wind in southern France and the Mediterranean

• Catalan: mestral (ca) m
• Corsican: maestral m
• Finnish: mistraali, mistraalituuli
• French: mistral (fr) m
• German: Mistral (de) m
• Greek: μαΐστρος (el) m (maḯstros)
• Hungarian: misztrál (hu)
• Italian: maestrale (it) m
• Malay: mistral
• Maltese: majjistral m
• Portuguese: mistral (pt) m
• Russian: мистра́ль (ru) m (mistrálʹ)
• Sardinian: maistràle m
• Spanish: mistral m
• Ukrainian: містра́ль m (mistrálʹ)

Further reading

• mistral (wind) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɪstral]

Noun

mistral m inan

1. mistral (wind)

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• “mistral”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “mistral”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan maestral (whence Occitan mistral) from Late Latin magistrālis, from Latin magister. Doublet of magistral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mis.tʁal/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Homophone: mistrals
• Hyphenation: mis‧tral

Noun

mistral m (plural mistrals)

1. (wind) mistral

   Coordinate terms: burle, tramontane

   • 1963, “La Madrague”, Jean-Max Rivière (lyrics), Gérard Bourgeois (music), performed by Brigitte Bardot:

     Le mistral va s'habituer / A courir sans les voiliers

     The mistral will get used / To blowing with no sails to fill

Further reading

• “mistral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Occitan

Alternative forms

• mistrau (Gascony, Vivaro-Alpine, Provençal)
• maistral, mestrau, mestral (Auvergne)
• maistrau (Auvergne, Provençal)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Occitan maestral (“north”), from Late Latin magistrālis, from Latin magister (“master”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /misˈtral/

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

Noun

mistral m (plural mistrals)

1. mistral (wind)

   Synonym: vent terral

Derived terms

• mistralada

Further reading

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “magistrālis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 6/1: Mabile–Mephitis, page 44
• https://dicodoc.eu/fr/dictionnaires?q=mistral

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French mistral.

Noun

mistral n (uncountable)

1. mistral

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	mistral	mistralul
genitive-dative	mistral	mistralului
vocative	mistralule

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-teros

?

Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-teros

?

Proto-Italic *magisteros

Latin magister

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin magistrālis

Occitan mistralbor.

Spanish mistral

Borrowed from Occitan mistral, from Latin magistrālis. Doublet of maestral and magistral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /misˈtɾal/ [misˈt̪ɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mis‧tral

Noun

mistral m (plural mistrales)

1. mistral (cold wind from the Atlantic)

Further reading

• “mistral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025