Word.ws English Dictionary

novena

novena noun: a recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially one to a saint to ask for their intercession.

Noun

novena (plural novenas or novenae)

  1. A recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially one to a saint to ask for their intercession.
    • The good nuns, who had been so sure of her vocation, perceived with great astonishment that Mademoiselle Rouault seemed to be slipping from them. They had indeed been so lavish to her of prayers, retreats, novenas, and sermons, they had so often preached the respect due to saints and martyrs, and...1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter VI, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners […], London: Vizetelly & Co., […], →OCLC, part I, page 42

novena meaning in Tagalog and Indonesian

novena in Tagalog

a recitation of prayers for nine days
pagsisiyam, nobena

novena in Indonesian

a recitation of prayers for nine days
novena

Forms of novena

pluralnovenas
pluralnovenae

Origin of novena

From Ecclesiastical Latin novēna, from Latin novēnus (“nine [each]”).

Questions about novena

What does novena mean?
Novena means a recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially one to a saint to ask for their intercession.
What is novena in Tagalog?
Novena in Tagalog is pagsisiyam, nobena. See Novena meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is novena?
Novena is a noun.
What is the plural of novena?
The plural of novena is novenas.

Words near novena in the dictionary

  1. novemvir
  2. novemvirate
  3. novemvirates
  4. novemviri
  5. novemvirs
  6. novena
  7. novenae
  8. novenaries
  9. novenary
  10. novenas
  11. novendecillion

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: novena (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.

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