estival

[prettygoodword]

estival or aestival (ES-tuh-vuhl, e-STAY-vuhl) - adj., relating to, occurring in, or appropriate for summer.


Summery. One of my favorite words is estivation, the summer equivalent of hibernation or sleeping through winter, which is a valid strategy for surviving in a desert (such as where I live). In use in English since the 14th century, from Old French, from Latin aestīvālis, adjectival form of aestās, summer, which ultimately comes from PIE *h₂eydʰ-, fire/burn. Interestingly, the Old French/Middle English spelling was estival, with the aestival a more modern respelling to align with the original Latin.

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

The scarcity and consequent preciousness of rhymes—above all multisyllabic rhymes—in English implies that someone has to have used this gift-wrapped title for a summer festival, and the Internet did not disappoint; indeed, choose your spelling:

https://estivalfestival.com/

https://www.aestival.info/

[prettygoodword]

Good callout!