estival

adjective

es·​ti·​val ˈe-stə-vəl 

variants or less commonly aestival

: of or relating to the summer

Did you know?

Estival and festival look so much alike that you might think they're very closely related, but that isn't the case. Estival traces back to aestas, which is the Latin word for "summer" (and which also gave us estivate, a verb for spending the summer in a torpid state—a sort of hot-weather equivalent of hibernating). Festival also comes from Latin, but it has a different and unrelated root. It derives from festivus, a term that means "festive" or "merry." Festivus is also the ancestor of festive and festivity as well as the much rarer festivous (which also means "festive") and infestive ("not merry, mirthless").

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin aestivalis, from aestivus of summer, from aestas summer — more at edify

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

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Medical Definition

estival

adjective

es·​ti·​val

variants or aestival

ˈes-tə-vəl 

: of, relating to, or occurring in the summer