vespers

Meaning

1. (plural, plural-only, uncountable) The sixth of the seven canonical hours, an evening prayer service
2. (euphemistic, uncountable) A massacre

vesper

• Noun
• Adj

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Synonyms

evensong

evening prayer

compline

orison

Vespers

Translations

vêpres

vísperas

Vesper

vespro

🌆

vespera

🌆

Ὁ Ἑσπερινός

εσπερινή ακολουθία

εσπερινός

صلاة الغروب

vesperae

vesper

horas canônicas

vésperas

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvɛsˌpɝz/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: vespers

In summary

From Middle English vespers, from Old French vespres (French vêpres), from Ecclesiastical Latin vesperae (“vespers”), substantivisation of relational Late Latin vesperus (“evening”), from vesper (“evening”) + -us.
Euphemistic use first as Vèpres éphésiennes (“Ephesian Vespers”), coined in 1890 by historian Théodore Reinach by analogy with the Sicilian Vespers.