# pastoral
## English
### Etymology

From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpæs.tə.ɹəl/ IPA: /ˈpɑːstə.ɹəl/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* enPR: păs"tōr-al, IPA: /ˌpæsˈtɔːɹəl/
* Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl

### Adjective

pastoral (comparative more pastoral, superlative most pastoral)
* Of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.
** 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.
* Relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.
    We were living a pastoral life.
** 1798, Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey, lines 16–18:[…] these pastoral farms, / Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
** 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 219–220:There was a tone, too, of pastoral poetry shed over the new scenes to which they were just introduced, that had a greater effect from the contrast to those, artificial and crowded, which they had just left.
** 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape.
* Relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi.
    pastoral duties
    a pastoral letter
** 2024 April 8, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, quoting Víctor Manuel Fernández, “Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity”, in The New York Times‎:“In terms of pastoral consequences,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who leads the Vatican’s office on doctrine, said in a news conference Monday, “the principle of welcoming all is clear in the words of Pope Francis.”

#### Derived terms

* agropastoral
* antipastoral
* nonpastoral
* pastoral care
* pastoral charge
* pastoralism
* pastoralist
* pastoralize
* pastoral letter
* pastorally
* pastoralness
* pastoral staff
* pastoral theology
* prepastoral
* silvipastoral
* unpastoral

#### Related terms

* al pastor

#### Translations
### Noun

pastoral (plural pastorals)
* A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
** 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 115:Ethel was silent from surprise: she had prepared herself for anger—even sorrow; but ridicule left her without an answer. What could she say to a hearer, who only smiled, and to whom emotion was only a scene in a pastoral?
* (music) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
* (religion, Christianity) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
* (religion, Christianity) A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* Laportas, al pastor, postalar, proatlas

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pāstōrālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [pəs.tuˈɾal]
* IPA: (Balearic) [pəs.toˈɾal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [pas.toˈɾal]

### Adjective

pastoral m or f (masculine and feminine plural pastorals)
* pastoral

#### Related terms

* pastor

### Further reading

* “pastoral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “pastoral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “pastoral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “pastoral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## French
### Etymology

From Old French pastoral, from Latin pastorālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”) (whence pâtre).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pas.tɔ.ʁal/

### Adjective

pastoral (feminine pastorale, masculine plural pastoraux, feminine plural pastorales)
* pastoral

#### Related terms

* paître

### Further reading

* “pastoral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pastoˈʁaːl/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːl

### Adjective

pastoral (strong nominative masculine singular pastoraler, not comparable)
* pastoral

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “pastoral” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
* “pastoral” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch pastoraal, from Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pasˈto.ral/, [pasˈt̪o.ral]

### Adjective

pastoral
* pastoral:
** of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock
** relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry
** relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi

### Noun

pastoral (plural pastoral-pastoral)
* pastoral:
** a poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic
** a cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life

### Derived terms

* pastoral paroki

### Related terms

* pastor

### Further reading

* “pastoral” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From Latin pāstōrālis.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /pas.toˈɾaw/ [pas.toˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /pas.toˈɾaw/ [pas.toˈɾaʊ̯]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /paʃ.toˈɾaw/ [paʃ.toˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐʃ.tuˈɾal/ [pɐʃ.tuˈɾaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐʃ.tuˈɾal/ [pɐʃ.tuˈɾaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /pɐʃ.tuˈɾa.li/
* Rhymes: -al, -aw
* Hyphenation: pas‧to‧ral

### Adjective

pastoral m or f (plural pastorais)
* Alternative form of pastoril
* pastoral (relating to the pastor of a church)

### Noun

pastoral f (plural pastorais)
* (Roman Catholicism) a letter written by a bishop or the pope explaining a doctrine

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French pastoral, from Latin pastorale.

### Adjective

pastoral m or n (feminine singular pastorală, masculine plural pastorali, feminine and neuter plural pastorale)
* pastoral

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin pāstōrālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pastoˈɾal/ [pas.t̪oˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: pas‧to‧ral

### Adjective

pastoral m or f (masculine and feminine plural pastorales)
* pastoral

#### Derived terms

* carta pastoral
* pastoralmente
* visita pastoral

### Noun

pastoral f (plural pastorales)
* pastoral

#### Related terms

* pastor

### Further reading

* “pastoral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10