Other forms: pageants
A pageant is a grand public show of costume and ceremony. A historical pageant, the coronation pageant, a beauty pageant.
Medieval ones were mystery plays performed on wagons, and the word first named the wagon itself. A beauty pageant is the American term for what Britain calls a beauty contest. The scale is the point — a pageant is meant to be watched by crowds.
1nounpageantA grand public show of costume and ceremony.
“The town holds a historical pageant every summer, with actors in medieval costume.”
pageant is a show.
Medieval Latin pagina named a play in a cycle of mystery plays, perhaps from the word for a page. The English word first meant the wagon the play was performed on.
Proto-Indo-European
*peh₂ǵ-
Latin
pāgina — page of a book
Medieval Latin
pagina — play in a cycle of mystery plays
Middle English
pagent
English, today
pageant
Late 14 as Middle English pagent, from Medieval Latin pagina (“play in a cycle of mystery plays”), perhaps from Latin pāgina (“page of a book”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA