Other forms: carnivals
A carnival is a street festival of costumes, music and dancing. The Notting Hill Carnival, Rio carnival, a carnival atmosphere.
Its origin is the season of feasting before Lent, which is why Carnival is a fixed date in Catholic countries and why Mardi Gras is the same festival by another name. In Britain a carnival can also mean a much smaller town procession with floats and a queen, and in America carnival often means a travelling funfair, which is nearer to what British English calls a fair. A carnival atmosphere means loud, cheerful and slightly chaotic, and it is always approving.
1nouncarnivalA public festival with costumes, music and processions.
“The carnival takes over the whole neighbourhood for two days.”
2nounuseIn American use, a travelling funfair.
“The carnival came to the fairground every July.”
carnival is a festival.
Italian carnevale is probably carne levare, taking away meat — the last feast before the fasting of Lent. The whole exuberance of the word comes from the fact that everything enjoyable was about to be given up for six weeks.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker-
Italian
carnevale
Middle French
carnaval
English, today
carnival
Built from
From Middle 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. a doublet of carnaval.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Music, Art & Culture, Weddings & Celebrations