ferial

F4E1R1I1A1L1
/ˈfɛɹɪəl/

adjective

Pertaining to an ordinary weekday, rather than a festival or fast.

OriginMiddle English ferial ← Medieval Latin fēriālis ← Latin fēria →
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Meanings

adjectiveferial (not comparable)
  1. not comparableecclesiasticalPertaining to an ordinary weekday, rather than a festival or fast.
  2. not comparableJovial, festive, as if pertaining to a holiday.

    In ferial tone he addressed J. J. O’Molloy: — Taylor had come there, you must know, from a sick bed.

    1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 7: Aeolus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 136
    1 more example

    [They] / Dance within the magic shade / That makes them drunken, merry, and strong / To laugh and sing their ferial song : / ‘Free, free . . . !’

    1921, Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow, London: Chatto & Windus, page 289
nounferial (plural ferials)

plural ferials

  1. ecclesiasticalA feria.

Origin

  1. Latinfēria“weekday”
  2. Medieval Latinfēriālis
  3. Middle Englishferial
  4. Englishferial

From Middle English ferial, from Medieval Latin fēriālis, from Latin fēria (“weekday”) (whence the first sense), fēriae (“holidays”) (whence the second).

More words from Middle English, Medieval Latin, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish ferial
  • ferialpertaining to an ordinary weekday

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

failerfarlie
Cite this entry
APA

ferial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferial

MLA

“ferial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferial. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ferial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferial.

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