Diwali
Syllables: Di·wa·li/dɪˈwɑːli/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
India/d̪ɪˈʋɑː.liː/
Diwali proper noun: an annual festival of light, observed during several days in October and November.
Proper noun
Diwali (plural Diwalis)
- An annual festival of light, observed during several days in October and November.
- Around one billion people worldwide and across the U.S. will celebrate Diwali this week.2024 October 30, Chandelis Duster, “Millions of people celebrate Diwali this week. Here is what you should know”, in NPR
- While Diwali is a major religious festival for Hindus, it is also observed by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.2025 October 7, Deepa Bharath, “California makes Diwali an official statewide holiday”, in KCRA
- Synonyms:
- Festival of Lights, Deepavali, Deepawali, Kali Puja
Diwali meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
Diwali in Hindi
- Hindu festival of lights
- दिवाली divālī, दीवाली dīvālī, देवाली devālī, दीपावली dīpāvlī, दीपावलि dīpāvli, दीपाली dīpālī
Diwali in Tamil
- Hindu festival of lights
- தீபாவளி tīpāvaḷi
Diwali in Marathi
- Hindu festival of lights
- दिवाळी divāḷī, दीपावली dīpāvlī
Diwali in Urdu
- Hindu festival of lights
- دوالی divālī, دیپاولی dīpāvalī
More languagesFewer languages
- Diwali in Bengali
- দীপাবলি dipaboli, দেওয়ালি deōẇali
- Diwali in Telugu
- దీపావళి dīpāvaḷi
- Diwali in Malayalam
- ദീപാവലി dīpāvali
- Diwali in Kannada
- ದೀಪಾವಳಿ dīpāvaḷi
- Diwali in Punjabi
- ਦਿਵਾਲੀ divālī, ਦੀਵਾਲੀ dīvālī, ਦੀਪਾਵਲੀ dīpāvalī, دوالی divālī
- Diwali in Gujarati
- દિવાળી divāḷī, દીપાવલી dīpāvalī
- Diwali in Odia
- ଦୀପାବଳୀ dipābaḷi
- Diwali in Sanskrit
- दीपावलि dīpāvali, दीपाली dīpālī
- Diwali in Sinhala
- දීපාවලි dīpāwali
- Diwali in Assamese
- দেৱালী dewali, দীপাৱলী dipawoli
- Diwali in Nepali
- तिहार tihār, दीपावली dīpāwlī
- Diwali in Arabic
- دِيوَالِي dīwālī
- Diwali in Malay
- Deepavali
- Diwali in Indonesian
- Deepavali, Dipawali
- Diwali in Persian
- دوالی devâli, دیوالی divâli, دیپاولی dipâvali
- Diwali in Myanmar
- ဒီပါဝလီ dipawa.li, ဒေဝါလီ dewali
- Sindhi
- دیاری dyari
Synonyms of Diwali
Forms of Diwali
| plural | Diwalis |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Dewali |
| alternative form | Divali |
Origin of Diwali
Borrowed from Hindi दिवाली (divālī), from Sanskrit दीपावलि (dīpāvali, literally “row of lights”), from दीप (dīpa, “light”) + आवलि (āvali, “series, line, row”). Doublet of Deepavali.
Words that rhyme with Diwali
Questions about Diwali
- What does Diwali mean?
- Diwali means an annual festival of light, observed during several days in October and November.
- What is Diwali in Hindi?
- Diwali in Hindi is दिवाली (divālī), दीवाली (dīvālī), देवाली (devālī). See Diwali meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Diwali?
- Diwali is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Diwali?
- Diwali is pronounced /d̪ɪˈʋɑː.liː/ (India).
Words near Diwali in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Diwali (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Diwali.wav.
Cite this entry: “Diwali.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diwali. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.