pastoral

See also: pastorał

English

Etymology

From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːstə.ɹəl/ (trap–bath split), /ˈpæs.tə.ɹəl/, /ˌpæsˈtɔːɹəl/ (non-standard but common)
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæs.tə.ɹəl/, /ˌpæsˈtɔːɹəl/ (non-standard but common)

  • Audio (Southern England (/ˌpæsˈtɔːɹəl/)):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England (/ˈpæs.tə.ɹəl/)):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl

Adjective

pastoral (comparative more pastoral, superlative most pastoral)

1. Of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.

   Synonyms: shepherdish, shepherdly

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:

     Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.

2. Relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.

   Synonyms: bucolic, rustic

   We were living a pastoral life.

   • 1798, Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey, lines 16–18:

     […] these pastoral farms, / Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 219–220:

     There was a tone, too, of pastoral poetry shed over the new scenes to which they were just introduced, that had a greater effect from the contrast to those, artificial and crowded, which they had just left.

   • 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:

     He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape.

3. Relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi.

   Synonyms: cleric, clerical; see also Thesaurus:clerical

   pastoral duties

   a pastoral letter

   • 2024 April 8, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, quoting Víctor Manuel Fernández, “Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     “In terms of pastoral consequences,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who leads the Vatican’s office on doctrine, said in a news conference Monday, “the principle of welcoming all is clear in the words of Pope Francis.”

Derived terms

• agropastoral
• antipastoral
• cyberpastoral
• neopastoral
• nonpastoral
• pastoral care
• pastoral charge
• pastoralise
• pastoralism
• pastoralist
• pastoralize
• pastoral letter
• pastorally
• pastoralness
• pastoral staff
• pastoral theology
• prepastoral
• semipastoral
• silvipastoral
• silvopastoral
• unpastoral

Related terms

• al pastor

Translations

of or pertaining to shepherds

• Bulgarian: пастирски (bg) (pastirski)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 牧人的

• Dutch: pastoraal (nl)
• Finnish: paimen- (fi), pastoraalinen (fi)
• French: pastoral (fr) m
• Greek: ποιμενικός (el) m (poimenikós), βουκολικός (el) m (voukolikós)

  Ancient Greek: βουκολικός (boukolikós)

• Polish: pasterski (pl)
• Portuguese: pastoral (pt), pastoril (pt)
• Russian: пастуший (ru) m (pastušij)
• Spanish: pastoral
• Swedish: pastoral (sv)

relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church

• Bulgarian: пасторски (bg) (pastorski)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主教的

• Esperanto: pastra
• Finnish: papillinen
• French: pastoral (fr) m
• Greek: ποιμαντικός (el) f (poimantikós)
• Polish: duszpasterski (pl), pasterski (pl), pastoralny (pl)
• Portuguese: pastoral (pt)

Noun

pastoral (plural pastorals)

1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 115:

     Ethel was silent from surprise: she had prepared herself for anger—even sorrow; but ridicule left her without an answer. What could she say to a hearer, who only smiled, and to whom emotion was only a scene in a pastoral?

2. (music) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
3. (religion, Christianity) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
4. (religion, Christianity) A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.

Translations

poem

• Bulgarian: пасторал m (pastoral)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 田园诗 (zh)

• Dutch: pastorale (nl) f
• Finnish: pastoraali (fi)
• Polish: sielanka (pl) f
• Russian: пастора́ль (ru) f (pastorálʹ)

cantata

• Dutch: pastorale (nl) f
• Finnish: pastoraali (fi)
• Russian: пастора́ль (ru) f (pastorálʹ)

letter of a pastor

• Dutch: herderlijke brief m
• Finnish: paimenkirje (fi)

letter of the house of bishops

• Finnish: paimenkirje (fi), piispan kirje
• Polish: list pasterski m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} pastorale (it) m

Anagrams

• Laportas, al pastor, postalar, proatlas

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pāstōrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pəs.tuˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [pəs.toˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pas.toˈɾal]

Adjective

pastoral m or f (masculine and feminine plural pastorals)

1. pastoral

Related terms

• pastor

Further reading

• “pastoral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “pastoral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “pastoral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “pastoral”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

French

Etymology

From Old French pastoral, from Latin pastorālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”) (whence pâtre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pas.tɔ.ʁal/

Adjective

pastoral (feminine pastorale, masculine plural pastoraux, feminine plural pastorales)

1. pastoral

Related terms

• paître

Further reading

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

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pastoˈʁaːl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

pastoral (strong nominative masculine singular pastoraler, not comparable)

1. pastoral

Declension

Positive forms of pastoral (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist pastoral	sie ist pastoral	es ist pastoral	sie sind pastoral
strong declension (without article)	nominative	pastoraler	pastorale	pastorales	pastorale
	genitive	pastoralen	pastoraler	pastoralen	pastoraler
	dative	pastoralem	pastoraler	pastoralem	pastoralen
	accusative	pastoralen	pastorale	pastorales	pastorale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der pastorale	die pastorale	das pastorale	die pastoralen
	genitive	des pastoralen	der pastoralen	des pastoralen	der pastoralen
	dative	dem pastoralen	der pastoralen	dem pastoralen	den pastoralen
	accusative	den pastoralen	die pastorale	das pastorale	die pastoralen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein pastoraler	eine pastorale	ein pastorales	(keine) pastoralen
	genitive	eines pastoralen	einer pastoralen	eines pastoralen	(keiner) pastoralen
	dative	einem pastoralen	einer pastoralen	einem pastoralen	(keinen) pastoralen
	accusative	einen pastoralen	eine pastorale	ein pastorales	(keine) pastoralen

Further reading

• “pastoral”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “pastoral” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch pastoraal, from Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /pasˈtoral/ [pasˈt̪o.ral]
• Rhymes: -oral
• Syllabification: pas‧to‧ral

Adjective

pastoral (comparative lebih pastoral, superlative paling pastoral)

1. pastoral

Noun

pastoral (plural pastoral-pastoral or para pastoral)

1. pastoral

Derived terms

• pastoral paroki

Related terms

• pastor

Further reading

• “pastoral”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin pāstōrālis.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pas.toˈɾaw/ [pas.toˈɾaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pas.toˈɾaw/ [pas.toˈɾaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /paʃ.toˈɾaw/ [paʃ.toˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐʃ.tuˈɾal/ [pɐʃ.tuˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐʃ.tuˈɾal/ [pɐʃ.tuˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐʃ.tuˈɾa.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: pas‧to‧ral

Adjective

pastoral m or f (plural pastorais)

1. alternative form of pastoril
2. pastoral (relating to the pastor of a church)

Noun

pastoral f (plural pastorais)

1. (Roman Catholicism) a letter written by a bishop or the pope explaining a doctrine

Further reading

• “pastoral”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “pastoral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French pastoral, from Latin pastorale.

Adjective

pastoral m or n (feminine singular pastorală, masculine plural pastorali, feminine/neuter plural pastorale)

1. pastoral

Declension

Declension of pastoral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	pastoral		pastorală	pastorali	pastorale
	definite	pastoralul		pastorala	pastoralii	pastoralele
genitive- dative	indefinite	pastoral		pastorale	pastorali	pastorale
	definite	pastoralului		pastoralei	pastoralilor	pastoralelor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin pāstōrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pastoˈɾal/ [pas.t̪oˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pas‧to‧ral

Adjective

pastoral m or f (masculine and feminine plural pastorales)

1. pastoral

Derived terms

• carta pastoral
• pastoralmente
• visita pastoral

Noun

pastoral f (plural pastorales)

1. pastoral

Related terms

• pastor

Further reading

• “pastoral”, 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