Banquet

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkwɪt/

Definitions

1. An elaborate formal meal or feast, often served to celebrate a special occasion or honor distinguished guests
2. A large and formal meal held in celebration or tribute, featuring multiple courses and often attended by invited guests or dignitaries
3. An event characterized by an extensive meal served to commemorate an occasion, typically involving entertainment and a formal atmosphere

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "banquet" is that it began as a snack, not a feast. In Italian, "banchetto" meant a light repast eaten between meals, and its literal sense was "a small bench." The diminutive suffix was attached to "banco," meaning bench, and the meaning shifted from the furniture to the snack eaten while sitting on it. The root reaches back to the Germanic word for bench, which also gave English "bank" and "bench." It came into Italian through Lombardic, the language of the Germanic people who settled northern Italy, and the Lombardic form appears in the history as "bank" and "panch." The word then passed through Middle French "banquet," and Middle English "banket" recorded it before the modern spelling took hold. The "w" in today's pronunciation has no etymological basis. It came from spelling-pronunciation, when speakers read the letters "qu" and sounded them out, adding a sound the original word never had.

Synonyms: feast, celebration, gathering, dinner, reception

Antonyms: fast, famine, snack, light meal, sparse meal