jocular

English

WOTD – 26 June 2006

Etymology

From Latin iocularis, from ioculus (“a little jest”), diminutive of iocus (“a jest”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɒkjʊlə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɑkjəlɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

jocular (comparative more jocular, superlative most jocular)

1. Humorous, amusing or joking.

   He was in a jocular mood all day.

   All we had was a short and jocular conversation.

   • 1865, Horatio Alger, “chapter IV”, in 'Paul Prescott's Charge:

     From the tone of the speaker, the last words might be understood to be jocular.

   • 1896, H. G. Wells, “chapter 15”, in The Island of Dr. Moreau:

     Sometimes he would notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so make it caper with extraordinary delight.

   • 1910, Stephen Leacock, The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones:

     Then papa began to get very tired of Jones, and fidgeted and finally said, with jocular irony, that Jones had better stay all night, they could give him a shake-down.

Synonyms

• (humorous): jokey, silly, joculous; see also Thesaurus:witty

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “humorous”): heartfelt, serious, sincere

Derived terms

• jocularism
• jocularity
• jocularly
• jocularness
• joculous
• overjocular
• semi-jocular
• unjocular

Related terms

• joke

Translations

humorous, amusing, joking

Bulgarian: духовит (bg) (duhovit), шеговит (bg) (šegovit) Chinese: Mandarin: 詼諧 / 诙谐 (zh) (huīxié, huīxie), 打趣的 Czech: žertovný, humorný, šprýmovný Dutch: schertsend (nl), grappend (nl) Esperanto: ŝerca, ŝercema Finnish: hilpeä (fi), leikkisä (fi), vitsikäs (fi) French: facétieux (fr), amusant (fr), humoristique (fr) Georgian: მოხუმარი (moxumari), მხიარული (mxiaruli), სამხიარულო (samxiarulo), იუმორისტული (iumorisṭuli) German: scherzhaft (de), spaßig (de), witzig (de) Hebrew: מְבַדֵּחַ (m'vadéakh) Hungarian: tréfás (hu) Ido: jokema (io) Ingrian: šuutkikas, naljakas Japanese: 剽軽 (ja) (ひょうきん, hyōkin) Maori: whakakata Polish: żartobliwy (pl) Portuguese: jocoso (pt) Russian: шутли́вый (ru) (šutlívyj), шу́точный (ru) (šútočnyj) Spanish: humorístico, jocoso (es) Swedish: skämtsam (sv), munter (sv), glad (sv), lustig (sv), humoristisk (sv) Ukrainian: жартівли́вий (žartivlývyj) Welsh: ffraeth (cy), ysmala

Further reading

• “jocular”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “jocular”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “jocular”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.