souvenir

See also: Souvenir

English

Souvenirs from around the world

Alternative forms

• souvenier (obsolete)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir (literally “memory”). Compare memento.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsuː.vəˈnɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.vəˌnɪɹ/, /ˌsu.vəˈnɪɹ/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /ˌsoʊ.vəˈnɪ.ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sou‧ve‧nir
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ), -uːvənɪə(ɹ)

Noun

souvenir (plural souvenirs)

1. An item of sentimental value, that is given or kept to remember an event or location.

   Synonyms: keepsake, memento, memorabilia

   • 2005, “Souvenir”, performed by Korn:

     Back then, nobody knew in the schoolyard / Now then, you have grown up to be this hard / Go then, walk through this world with your heart scarred / You're the souvenir of sadness

   • 2005, Steven Church, Guinness Book of Me, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 138:

     The tourists stuck to the safe confines of the gift shop, where they bought souvenir combs, shot glasses, oversize pencils, and blocks of cedar painted with rhyming poems and shellacked to a high gloss.

Derived terms

• one more time for the sweet souvenir
• souvenir plot
• souvenir sheet

Descendants

• → Cantonese: souven

Translations

item of sentimental value

• Albanian: suvenir m
• Arabic: تَذْكار m (taḏkār)
• Armenian: հուշանվեր (hy) (hušanver)
• Azerbaijani: yadigar (az), suvenir
• Belarusian: сувені́р m (suvjenír), (Taraškievica) сувэні́р m (suvenír)
• Bengali: স্মারকগ্রন্থ (bn) (śãrkogrontho)
• Bulgarian: сувени́р m (suvenír)
• Catalan: record (ca) m
• Cebuano: handomanan
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 紀念品 / 纪念品 (gei² nim⁶ ban²), souven

  Hokkien: 紀念品 / 纪念品 (kí-liām-phín)

  Mandarin: 紀念品 / 纪念品 (zh) (jìniànpǐn)

• Czech: suvenýr (cs) m
• Danish: souvenir (da) c
• Dutch: aandenken (nl) n, souvenir (nl) n
• Esperanto: memoraĵo
• Estonian: suveniir, meene
• Faroese: minnislutur m
• Finnish: matkamuisto (fi), muistoesine (fi)
• French: souvenir (fr) m
• Georgian: სახსოვარი (saxsovari)
• German: Andenken (de) n, Reisemitbringsel n, Souvenir (de) n, Erinnerungsstück (de) n, Mitbringsel (de) n
• Greek: ενθύμιο (el) n (enthýmio)
• Hebrew: מַזכֶּרֶת (he) f (mazkéret)
• Hindi: स्मारिका (hi) f (smārikā), यादगार (hi) f (yādgār), सौग़ात (hi) m pl (sauġāt)
• Hungarian: szuvenír (hu)
• Icelandic: minjagripur m, minningargripur m
• Ido: suveniro (io), memorigilo (io), memorigivo (io)
• Indonesian: cendera mata (id), oleh-oleh (id) (literally “got got”)
• Ingrian: toomuin, tookki
• Irish: cuimhneachán m
• Italian: ricordo (it) m
• Japanese: 土産 (ja) (みやげ, miyage), 記念品 (ja) (きねんひん, kinenhin), 記念物 (ja) (きねんぶつ, kinenbutsu)
• Kazakh: кәдесый (kädesyi)
• Khmer: អនុស្សាវរីយ (km) (ʼaʼnuhsaavaʼrii)
• Korean: 기념품(記念品) (ko) (ginyeompum), 선물(膳物) (ko) (seonmul), 기념물(紀念物) (ko) (ginyeommul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xatire (ku)

• Kyrgyz: сувенир (suvenir), азембелек (azembelek)
• Lao: ທີ່ລະລຶກ (thī la lưk)
• Latin: mnēmosȳnum n
• Latvian: suvenīrs m
• Lithuanian: suvenyras m
• Macedonian: сувени́р m (suvenír)
• Māori: manatunga
• Marathi: स्मारिका (mr) f (smārikā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бэлэг дурсгал (beleg dursgal)

• Navajo: bee ééhániihii
• Nepali: स्मारिका (ne) f (smārikā)
• Norman: souv'nîn m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: suvenir m

  Nynorsk: suvenir m

• Odia: ସ୍ମାରିକା (or) f (smārikā)
• Pashto: يادګار m (yādgā́r)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: یَادِگَاری (fa) (yâdegâri), یَادْگَاری (fa) (yâdgâri), یَادِگَار (fa) (yâdegâr), یَادْگَار (fa) (yâdgâr), سُوغَات (fa) (sowġât), رَه‌ْآوَرْد (fa) (rah-âvard)

• Plautdietsch: Aunjedenkj n
• Polish: pamiątka (pl) f
• Portuguese: suvenir (pt) m, souvenir m
• Punjabi:

  Gyrmukhi: ਸਮਾਰਕਾ (pa) f (samārkā), ਯਾਦਗਾਰ (pa) f (yādgār), ਸੌਗ਼ਾਤ (pa) m pl (sauġāt), ਸੁਗਾਤ (pa) m pl (sugāt)

• Romanian: suvenir (ro) n
• Russian: сувени́р (ru) m (suvenír)
• Sanskrit: स्मारिका (sa) f (smārikā)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuimhneachan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сувѐнӣр m, у̏спомена f

  Latin: suvènīr (sh) m ȕspomena (sh) f

• Slovak: suvenír m
• Slovene: spominek m
• Spanish: recuerdo (es) m, tornaviaje m, souvenir m, suvenir m
• Swedish: souvenir (sv) c
• Tagalog: daol, pang-alaala
• Tajik: тӯҳфа (tühfa), савғотӣ (savġoti), савғот (savġot), ёдгор (yodgor)
• Thai: ของฝาก (kɔ̌ɔng-fàak)
• Tocharian B: epyacäññe
• Turkish: hatıra (tr), hediyelik eşya (tr)
• Turkmen: suwenir, ýadygärlik
• Ukrainian: сувені́р m (suvenír)
• Urdu: یَادْگَار (ur) f (yādgār), سَوغَات (ur) m pl (sauġāt)
• Uyghur: خاتىرە بويۇم (xatire boyum)
• Uzbek: suvenir (uz), yodgorlik (uz), esdalik (uz)
• Vietnamese: đồ lưu niệm
• Yiddish: אָנדענק m (ondenk)

Verb

souvenir (third-person singular simple present souvenirs, present participle souveniring, simple past and past participle souvenired)

1. (transitive) To take (something) as a souvenir, especially illicitly, for example during wartime.
   • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 57:

     "Doubletime up to the ville and souvenir me one cute orphan, man, but be sure you get a dirty one, a really skuzzy one."

   • 2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 84:

     The word is they're waiting for some blokes who had gone off souveniring before the order was announced.

Danish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Noun

souvenir c (singular definite souveniren, plural indefinite souvenirs or souvenirer)

1. souvenir

Declension

Declension of souvenir

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	souvenir	souveniren	souvenirs souvenirer	souvenirerne souvenirene
genitive	souvenirs	souvenirens	souvenirs' souvenirers	souvenirernes souvenirenes

References

• “souvenir” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.vəˈnir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sou‧ve‧nir

Noun

souvenir n (plural souvenirs, diminutive souvenirtje n)

1. souvenir

   Synonyms: aandenken, gedachtenis

Descendants

• → Indonesian: suvenir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French soubvenir, from Old French sovenir, from Latin subvenīre (“come to mind, occur to”), from sub + veniō. Doublet of subvenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.v(ə).niʁ/

• Audio; “se souvenir”:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sou‧ve‧nir

Verb

souvenir

1. (pronominal) to remember [with de ‘someone/something’; or with que (+ clause) ‘that ...’]

   Synonym: rappeler

   il faut se souvenir que... ― It's necessary to remember that...

   Je me souviens de toi. ― I remember you.

   Est-ce que vous vous souvenez de ce que vous m'avez dit la semaine dernière ?

   Do you remember what you told me last week?

Conjugation

This is a verb in a group of -ir verbs. All verbs ending in -venir, such as convenir and devenir, are conjugated this way. Such verbs are the only verbs whose past historic and subjunctive imperfect endings do not start with one of these thematic vowels: -a-, -i-, -u-.

Conjugation of se souvenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se souvenir
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se souvenant /sə suv.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		souvenu /suv.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me souviens /mə su.vjɛ̃/	te souviens /tə su.vjɛ̃/	se souvient /sə su.vjɛ̃/	nous souvenons /nu suv.nɔ̃/	vous souvenez /vu suv.ne/	se souviennent /sə su.vjɛn/
	imperfect	me souvenais /mə suv.nɛ/	te souvenais /tə suv.nɛ/	se souvenait /sə suv.nɛ/	nous souvenions /nu su.və.njɔ̃/	vous souveniez /vu su.və.nje/	se souvenaient /sə suv.nɛ/
	past historic2	me souvins /mə su.vɛ̃/	te souvins /tə su.vɛ̃/	se souvint /sə su.vɛ̃/	nous souvînmes /nu su.vɛ̃m/	vous souvîntes /vu su.vɛ̃t/	se souvinrent /sə su.vɛ̃ʁ/
	future	me souviendrai /mə su.vjɛ̃.dʁe/	te souviendras /tə su.vjɛ̃.dʁa/	se souviendra /sə su.vjɛ̃.dʁa/	nous souviendrons /nu su.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	vous souviendrez /vu su.vjɛ̃.dʁe/	se souviendront /sə su.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me souviendrais /mə su.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	te souviendrais /tə su.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	se souviendrait /sə su.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	nous souviendrions /nu su.vjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	vous souviendriez /vu su.vjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	se souviendraient /sə su.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me souvienne /mə su.vjɛn/	te souviennes /tə su.vjɛn/	se souvienne /sə su.vjɛn/	nous souvenions /nu su.və.njɔ̃/	vous souveniez /vu su.və.nje/	se souviennent /sə su.vjɛn/
	imperfect2	me souvinsse /mə su.vɛ̃s/	te souvinsses /tə su.vɛ̃s/	se souvînt /sə su.vɛ̃/	nous souvinssions /nu su.vɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	vous souvinssiez /vu su.vɛ̃.sje/	se souvinssent /sə su.vɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	souviens-toi /su.vjɛ̃.twa/	—	souvenons-nous /suv.nɔ̃.nu/	souvenez-vous /suv.ne.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• se souvenir

Noun

souvenir m (plural souvenirs)

1. memory (mental picture)

   Je n'ai pas le souvenir de t'avoir dit ça…

   I don't remember telling you that…

   (literally, “I don't have the memory of me having told you that…”)

2. souvenir

   J'ai ramené un souvenir de Paris.

   I have brought back a souvenir of Paris.

Derived terms

• jour du Souvenir

Descendants

• → Danish: souvenir
• → Dutch: souvenir
• → English: souvenir
• → German: Souvenir
• → Greek: σουβενίρ (souvenír)
• → Italian: souvenir
• → Luxembourgish: Souvenir
• → Portuguese: souvenir, suvenir
• → Spanish: souvenir, suvenir

Further reading

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

Indonesian

Noun

souvênir (plural souvenir-souvenir)

1. nonstandard form of suvenir

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.veˈnir/
• Rhymes: -ir

Noun

souvenir m (invariable)

1. souvenir

Further reading

• souvenir in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• universo

Old French

Verb

souvenir

1. alternative form of sovenir

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem souvien distinct from the unstressed stem souven, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of souvenir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		souvenir			avoir souvenu
gerund		en souvenant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		souvenant
past participle		souvenu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	souvieng, souvien	souviens	souvient	souvenons	souvenez	souvienent
	imperfect	souvenoie, souveneie	souvenoies, souveneies	souvenoit, souveneit	souveniiens, souveniens	souveniiez, souveniez	souvenoient, souveneient
	preterite	souvin	souvenis	souvint	souvenimes	souvenistes	souvindrent, souvinrent
	future	souvendrai	souvendras	souvendra	souvendrons	souvendroiz, souvendreiz, souvendrez	souvendront
	conditional	souvendroie, souvendreie	souvendroies, souvendreies	souvendroit, souvendreit	souvendriiens, souvendriens	souvendriiez, souvendriez	souvendroient, souvendreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	souviegne	souviegnes	souviegne	souviegniens, souviegnons	souviegniez	souviegnent
	imperfect	souvenisse	souvenisses	souvenist	souvenissons, souvenissiens	souvenissoiz, souvenissez, souvenissiez	souvenissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	souvien	—	souvenons	souvenez	—

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /su.veˈniʁ/ [su.veˈnih]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /su.veˈniʁ/ [su.veˈnih]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /su.veˈniɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /su.veˈniʁ/ [su.veˈniχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /su.veˈniɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /su.vɨˈniɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /su.vɨˈniɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /su.bɨˈniɾ/ [su.βɨˈniɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /su.vɨˈni.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: sou‧ve‧nir

Noun

souvenir m (plural souvenirs)

1. unadapted form of suvenir

Further reading

• “souvenir”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “souvenir”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “souvenir”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “souvenir”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Alternative forms

• suvenir

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /subeˈniɾ/ [su.β̞eˈniɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: sou‧ve‧nir

Noun

souvenir m (plural souvenirs)

1. souvenir

   Synonym: recuerdo

   • 2015 June 8, “Resumen del día de El País América - 7 de julio”, in El País‎^[1]:

     Y eso aumenta la presión sobre México: el otrora “gigante de Concacaf”: el campeón de los ratings en las transmisiones y una de las selecciones con más ganancias por venta de jerséis y souvenires alusivos al equipo en el mundo.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “souvenir”, 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
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “souvenir”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir.

Noun

souvenir c

1. souvenir

Declension

Declension of souvenir

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	souvenir	souvenirs
	definite	souveniren	souvenirens
plural	indefinite	souvenirer	souvenirers
	definite	souvenirerna	souvenirernas

References

• “souvenir”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “souvenir”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “souvenir”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)