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Glite Dictionary
ferial

ferial

1 9.9
Relating to a weekday with no special church celebration
  • adjective
  • /ˈfɛriəl/
  • Specialized
: ferial
  • Most of January consisted of ferial days, without solemn feasts in the calendar.

Examples

  • The church's ferial mass on Wednesday followed the standard weekday liturgy.

  • Today is a ferial day.

  • During ferial seasons, no special vestments are required by the clergy.

  • What is a ferial day?

  • The priest explained that the ferial days focus on ordinary worship rather than special feasts.

  • During a ferial week, we do not celebrate any major religious events.

  • Many people find peace in attending church on ferial days when the atmosphere is less crowded.

Surface Forms

ferial positive

Morphology

ferial = feria (opaque) = feria + al

The adjective is formed with the productive suffix -al, but the base word 'feria' is specialized and unlikely to be known by an average learner.

Etymology

Ferial comes from the Latin word feria, which meant 'holiday' or 'festival'. In church language, feria came to mean a normal weekday with no special 'feast', so ferial now means relating to those plain weekday services.