walpurgisnacht

/vɑːlˈpɜːɡɪsnɑːxt/

walpurgisnacht means walpurgis night, a feast of witchcraft in German folklore; any orgiastic or bacchanalian party. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.

walpurgisnacht is pronounced /vɑːlˈpɜːɡɪsnɑːxt/.

Why “walpurgisnacht” is a great word

WALPURGISNACHT — [Noun] In German folklore, a feast or revel associated with witchcraft, particularly the night of April 30th, or by extension, any wild and orgiastic party. An unadapted borrowing from German Walpurgisnacht, literally "the night of (St.) Walpurgis," from the name of the 8th-century abbess Saint Walpurga, whose feast day is May 1st; first attested in English use circa 1820. Unlike "Beltane," which denotes a Gaelic pastoral festival marking summer's beginning, or "bacchanal," a general term for drunken revelry lacking a fixed folkloric calendar, Walpurgisnacht is anchored to a specific Germanic twilight, thick with the lore of witches' flights. It is the imagined clatter of broomsticks against a cold, clear sky, the shadowed convocation on a bare mountaintop, and the communal fire that feels less like celebration than defiance—the annual, necessary release of darkness before the sanctioned dawn of a saint's day.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Walpurgisnacht.

noun

Walpurgis night, a feast of witchcraft in German folklore; any orgiastic or bacchanalian party.“The proper sequel to the Walpurgisnacht obsequies of Franz Ferdinand would have been the dismissal of Prince Montenuovo...”