Jazzfest

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A music festival devoted to performances of jazz by bands and solo artists, often held over several days in a city or park
2. An event featuring live jazz concerts, typically gathering musicians and audiences for an extended celebration of the genre
3. A gathering of jazz performers and fans that presents concerts, workshops and related activities in honor of the art form

Etymology: "Jazzfest" is a plain compound: "jazz" joined to "-fest," a combining element that comes from the German word "Fest," meaning festival or celebration. English picked up "-fest" from German-speaking immigrant communities in North America, where festivals such as the Oktoberfest tradition were well known, and it began to be attached to other nouns to name a gathering built around them. The result is a clipped, informal label. Once "-fest" was productive, writers could form a festival name from almost any noun, so "jazzfest" follows the same pattern as "bookfest" or "filmfest." The word simply names a festival devoted to jazz music, with the suffix doing all the work of signalling "gathering" and the first element naming the subject.