kermis

or ker·mess, kir·mess

[ kur-mis ]

noun

1. (in the Low Countries) a local, annual outdoor fair or festival.
2. a similar entertainment, usually for charitable purposes.

kermis

/ ˈkɜːmɪs /

noun

1. (formerly, esp in Holland and Northern Germany) an annual country festival or carnival
2. a similar event, esp one held to collect money for charity

Word History and Origins

Origin of kermis¹

1570–80; < Dutch, earlier ker ( c ) misse ( kerc church + misse Mass ); originally a fair at the dedication of a church

Word History and Origins

Origin of kermis¹

C16: from Middle Dutch kercmisse, from kerc church + misse Mass ; originally a festival held to celebrate the dedication of a church

Example Sentences

“Here is spring again, says the dance,” Ferris writes about the “The Village Kermis,” better known as “The Peasant Dance,” which hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

From Washington Post

Bike races have been sent through buildings before – there is a legendary kermis in Belgium which went through a bar full of drinkers and cyclo-cross races are sometimes sent through beer tents – but this was about more than merely upping the returns in adjacent brasseries.

From The Guardian

But when the owner of the 17th-century work, “St. George’s Kermis With the Dance Around the Maypole,” sold it at a Sotheby’s auction in 2009, it drew more than four times that amount, or $2.1 million.

From New York Times

The first Kermis held at New Amsterdam was in October, 1659.

From Project Gutenberg

The Kermis, an Old World festival, was one of those early introduced at New Amsterdam.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• festival
• spectacle