souvenirs

Word family

• souvenir
  nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Souvenirs is the normal everyday plural for small objects people buy or keep to remember a trip, concert, festival, or museum visit. Mementos is more formal and can describe reminders from almost any experience, including letters or tickets that were never bought. Keepsakes stresses personal feeling and private value, often for gifts or family objects rather than tourist items. Tokens is broader and often suggests a small symbolic object instead of something linked to travel. So postcards from Taipei are souvenirs, a pressed flower from graduation can be a memento, your grandmother's brooch may be a keepsake, and a thank-you pin might be a token.

Common collocations

Etymology

From French souvenir, a verb meaning 'to remember' or 'to come to mind,' from Latin subvenire. English first used souvenir as a noun for an object kept as a reminder, and the regular plural souvenirs later became the everyday way to talk about several such items together.