día festivo
/ˌdia fesˈtibo/
In Spanish, 'bank holiday' is día festivo.
The phrase refers to a weekday granted to workers as a national holiday. In many Spanish-speaking contexts, the adjective festivo is used as a noun to mean a public holiday.
Meaning: a weekday granted to workers as a national holiday (noun)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Puerto Rico, bank holidays are known as días feriados bancarios.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express the plural 'bank holidays', change both the noun and the adjective to their plural forms: días festivos.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˌdia fesˈtibo/
Did you know?
- While día festivo is the general term, in Spain you might hear the term puente, meaning 'bridge'. This refers to taking a weekday off to connect a holiday to a weekend, creating a long break.
- The word festivo shares a root with the English word 'festive', but in Spanish, it is the standard legal term for any public holiday, not just one that is celebratory.
- The word día is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dyḗws, meaning 'heaven' or 'sky'.
Examples in context
- El próximo lunes es día festivo.Next Monday is a bank holiday.
- No trabajamos porque es día festivo.We don't work because it is a bank holiday.
- ¿Hay algún día festivo este mes?Is there any bank holiday this month?
Example conversation
Sofía and Mateo are discussing their work schedule.
- SofíaMateo, ¿sabes si el lunes es día festivo?Mateo, do you know if Monday is a bank holiday?
- MateoSí, Sofía, es un día festivo nacional.Yes, Sofía, it is a national bank holiday.
- Sofía¡Qué bien! Entonces no tengo que ir a la oficina.That's great! Then I don't have to go to the office.
- MateoExacto, todos descansaremos ese día.Exactly, we will all rest that day.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry día festivo, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries día, festivo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
