Meanings
verb
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of fast
nounfasting (countable and uncountable, plural fastings)
plural fastings
- countableuncountableAbstinence or mortification for religious reasons, especially abstinence from food.
Immediately after that affair Lady Wondershoot, casting about for exemplary additions to the abuse and fastings she had inflicted, issued a Ukase. She issued it first to her butler, and very suddenly, so that she made him jump.
1904, H. G. Wells, The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth1 more example
Long vigils—fastings that wore away the strength of day—prayers that banished sleep from night—hoarded vengeance, that, like a fire, consumed its abode—affections crushed to the very earth—a memory whose love was with the grave,—a faith that had coloured itself with mortal passion,—all these had pressed too heavily on the springs of life and thought;...
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 269–270
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
By surface analysis, fast + -ing.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek νηστεία, νηστεία
- νηστεία (nēsteía)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- νηστεία (nēsteía)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Arabic صَوْم, صِيَام
- صَوْم (ṣawm)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- صِيَام (ṣiyām)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- صَوْم (ṣawm)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- صِيَام (ṣiyām)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Basque barau, baraualdi
- barauact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- baraualdiperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Bengali উপবাস, উপোস
- উপবাস (upobaś)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- উপোস (upōs)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- রোজাদারী (rōjadari)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- রোজা (rōja)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- সিয়াম (śiẏam)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- উপবাস (upobaś)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- উপোস (upōs)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- রোজা (rōja)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Bulgarian пост, пост
- пост (post)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- пост (post)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Catalan dejuni, dia dejunat
- dejuniact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- dia dejunatperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Chinese Mandarin 禁食, 齋戒 /斋戒
- 禁食 (jìnshí)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- 齋戒 /斋戒 (zhāijiè)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- 禁食 (jìnshí)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- 齋戒 /斋戒 (zhāijiè)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Czech půst, půst
- půstact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- půstperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Danish faste, faste
- fasteact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- fasteperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Dutch vasten, vasten
- vastenact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- vastenperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Esperanto fasto
- fastoperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Estonian paast, paast
- paastact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- paastperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Finnish paasto, paastoaminen
- paastoact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- paastoaminenact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- paastoperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
French jeûne, jeûne
- jeûneact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- jeûneperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
German Fasten, Fastenzeit
- Fastenact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- Fastenzeitperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Greek νηστεία, νηστεία
- νηστεία (nisteía)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- νηστεία (nisteía)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Hebrew צוֹם, תַּעֲנִית
- צוֹם (tsom)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- תַּעֲנִית (ta'anít)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- צוֹם (tsom)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- תַּעֲנִית (ta'anít)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Hindi उपवास, व्रत
- उपवास (upvās)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- व्रत (vrat)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- रोज़ा (rozā)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- उपवास (upvās)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- व्रत (vrat)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- रोज़ा (rozā)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Hungarian böjtölés, böjt
- böjtölésact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- böjtperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Icelandic fasta, fasta
- fastaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- fastaperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Indonesian puasa, puasa
- puasaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- puasaperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Irish troscadh, troscadh
- troscadhact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- troscadhperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- céalacanperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Italian digiuno, digiuno
- digiunoact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- digiunoperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Japanese 断食, 絶食
- 断食 (danjiki)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- 絶食 (zesshoku)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- 断食 (danjiki)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- 絶食 (zesshoku)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Korean 단식, 단식
- 단식 (dansik)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- 단식 (dansik)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Latin iēiūnium, iēiūnium
- iēiūniumact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- iēiūniumperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Latvian gavēšana, gavēnis
- gavēšanaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- gavēnisact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- gavēnisperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Lithuanian pasninkas, pasninkas
- pasninkasact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- pasninkasperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- gavėniaperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Malay puasa, puasa
- puasaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- puasaperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Māori nohopuku
- nohopukuact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
Norwegian faste, faste
- fasteact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- fasteperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Persian روزه, روزه
- روزه (ruze)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- روزه (ruze)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Polish post, poszczenie
- postact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- poszczenieact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- postperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Portuguese jejum, jejum
- jejumact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- jejumperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Romanian post, ajun
- postact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- ajunact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- postperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Russian пост, голода́ние
- пост (post)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- голода́ние (golodánije)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- пост (post)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- голода́ние (golodánije)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Scottish Gaelic trasg, trasg
- trasgact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- trasgperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Slovak pôst, pôst
- pôstact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- pôstperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Spanish ayuno, ayuno
- ayunoact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- ayunoperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Swahili funga, funga
- fungaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- fungaperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- saumuperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Swedish fasta, fastetid
- fastaact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- fastetidperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Tagalog ayuno
- ayunoperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Tamil உண்ணாவிரதம்
- உண்ணாவிரதம் (uṇṇāviratam)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
Thai การอดอาหาร, การอด
- การอดอาหาร (gaan òt aahăan)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- การอด (kaan òt)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Turkish oruç, perhiz
- oruçact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- perhizact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- oruçperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- perhizperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Ukrainian піст, голодува́ння
- піст (pist)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- голодува́ння (holoduvánnja)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- піст (pist)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- голодува́ння (holoduvánnja)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Urdu روزہ
- روزہ (roza)act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
Vietnamese nhịn ăn, kiêng ăn
- nhịn ănact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- kiêng ănact or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food
- nhịn ănperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
- kiêng ănperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Welsh ympryd
- ymprydperiod of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Yiddish תּענית
- תּענית (tones)period of time when one abstains from or eats very little food
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with fasting
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
fasting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fasting
MLA
“fasting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fasting. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fasting,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fasting.
Source: fasting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.