pastorela

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noun

A traditional Mexican theater performance that chronicles the journeys of shepherds and shepherdesses on the way to visit the newborn Jesus, typically performed during Advent.

OriginSpanish pastorela ← French pastourelle →
Scrabble 11
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Meanings

pastorela1

nounpastorela (plural pastorelas)

plural pastorelas · alternative Pastorela

  1. A traditional Mexican theater performance that chronicles the journeys of shepherds and shepherdesses on the way to visit the newborn Jesus, typically performed during Advent.

pastorela2

nounpastorela (plural pastorelas)

plural pastorelas · alternative Pastorela

  1. historicalA type of Occitan lyric poetry in which a knight meets a shepherdess.
    1. historicalA work of such poetry.

Origin

pastorela · noun

  1. Frenchpastourelle
  2. Spanishpastorela
  3. Englishpastorela

Borrowed from Spanish pastorela, from French pastourelle.

More words from Spanish, French

Full word history & related roots →

pastorela · noun

  1. Old Occitanpastorela“little shepherdess”
  2. Englishpastorela

Learned borrowing from Old Occitan pastorela (“little shepherdess”), from pastor (“shepherd”) + -ela (feminine diminutive suffix). Compare etymology 1.

More words from Old Occitan

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

pastoraleparosteal
Cite this entry
APA

pastorela. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pastorela

MLA

“pastorela.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pastorela. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pastorela,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pastorela.

Source: pastorela on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.