humour

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

humour

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• humor (US)

Etymology

From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the erroneous association with the word humus (“soil”).

The shift in meaning "liquid" > "mood" is attributed to the classical system of physiology, where human behaviour is regulated by four bodily humours (fluids). The sense "mood" gave rise to the verb sense "to give in to someone's mood or whim" and, by narrowing of meaning, the sense "wit".^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhjuːmɚ/, /ˈjuːmɚ/
• Hyphenation: hu‧mour

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːmə(ɹ)

Noun

humour (usually uncountable, plural humours) (British spelling)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. [from the early 18th c.]

   Synonyms: amusingness, comedy, comicality, wit

   She has a great sense of humour, and I always laugh a lot whenever we get together.

   The sensitive subject was treated with humour, but in such way that no one was offended.

   • 1774, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “Postscript”, in Retaliation: A Poem. […], 5th edition, London: […] G[eorge] Kearsly, […], →OCLC, page 22:

     Merry VVhitefoord, farevvel! for thy ſake I admit / That a Scot may have humour, I had almoſt ſaid vvit: […]

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

     A great deal of excellent humour was expended on the perplexities of mine host.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:

     They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.

3. (uncountable) A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.

   Synonym: mood

   He was in a particularly vile humour that afternoon.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     I like not the humour of lying.

   • a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, “[Baconiana Politico-Moralia. […].] Certain Apothegms of the Lord Bacon’s, hitherto Unpublished. [Apophthegm 10.]”, in [Thomas Tenison], editor, Baconiana. Or Certain Genuine Remains of Sr. Francis Bacon, […], London: […] J. D. for Richard Chiswell, […], published 1679, →OCLC, page 55:

     King James, as he was a Prince of great Judgment, ſo he was a Prince of a marvellous pleaſant humour; […]

   • 1684, Lord Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse:

     Examine how your humour is inclined, / And which the ruling passion of your mind.

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     Is my friend all perfection, all virtue and discretion? Has he not humours to be endured?

   • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

     ([I]t was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything)—“ […]Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”

4. (archaic or historical) Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.

   Synonym: bodily fluid

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     A humour is a liquid or fluent part of the body, comprehended in it, for the preservation of it; and is either innate or born with us, or adventitious and acquisite.

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     The cause is a temperate conglutination ; for both bodies are clammy and viscous , and do bridle the deflux of humours to the hurts , without penning them in too much

   • 1763, Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisisana (PG), (tr. 1774) page 42:

     For some days a fistula lacrymalis had come into my left eye, which discharged an humour, when pressed, that portended danger.

5. (medicine) Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.
6. (obsolete) Moist vapour, moisture.

Synonyms

• (something funny): comedy, wit, witticism

Derived terms

• humoral
• humorism
• humorist
• humorous

 

Expressions

• aqueous humour
• bad humour
• black humour
• crystalline humour
• dark humour
• dry humour
• gallows humour
• glacial humour
• good humour
• ill humour
• out of humour
• sense of humour
• toilet humour
• vitreous humour

Related terms

• humid
• humidity

 

Descendants

• →⇒ Chinese:

  Cantonese: 幽默 (jau¹ mak⁶)

  Mandarin: 幽默 (yōumò)

• → Danish: humor
  • → Icelandic: húmor
• → Dutch: humor
• → Esperanto: humuro
• → French: humour
  • → Romanian: humor, umor
  • → Turkish: humor
• → German: Humor (semantic loan)
  • → Polish: humor
  • → Yiddish: הומאָר (humor) (probably)
• → Greek: χιούμορ (chioúmor)
• → Italian: humour
• → Japanese: ユーモア (yūmoa)
• → Korean: 유머 (yumeo)
• → Norwegian: (also via German)

  Bokmål: humor

  Nynorsk: humor

• → Russian: ю́мор (júmor), гу́мор (gúmor)
  • → Azerbaijani: yumor
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: ху̀мор

  Latin script: hùmor

• → Swedish: humor (semantic loan)

Translations

wit

Albanian: humor (sq) m Arabic: فُكَاهَة f (fukāha), دُعَابَة f (duʕāba) Armenian: հումար (humar) Azerbaijani: yumor, zarafat (az), şaka (az) Belarusian: гу́мар m (húmar) Bulgarian: ху́мор (bg) m (húmor) Burmese: ဟာသ (my) (hasa.) Catalan: humor (ca) m Cebuano: kataw'anan Chinese: Mandarin: 幽默 (zh) (yōumò), 諧謔 / 谐谑 (zh) (xiéxuè, xiénüè) Czech: humor (cs) m Danish: humor (da) c Dutch: humor (nl) Esperanto: humuro Estonian: huumor Finnish: huumori (fi) French: humour (fr) m Georgian: იუმორი (iumori) German: Humor (de) m Greek: χιούμορ (el) n (chioúmor) Hebrew: הוּמוֹר (he) m (humór) Hungarian: humor (hu), komikum (hu) Icelandic: húmor m Indonesian: humor (id), kelakar (id) Interlingua: humor (ia) Irish: greann m Italian: humour (it) m, umorismo (it) m Japanese: ユーモア (ja) (yūmoa), 諧謔 (ja) (かいぎゃく, kaigyaku) Kazakh: әзіл (äzıl) Khmer: ការកំប្លែង (kaa kɑmplɛɛng) Korean: 유머 (ko) (yumeo), 해학(諧謔) (ko) (haehak) Kyrgyz: юмор (ky) (yumor), азил (ky) (azil) Latvian: humors m Lithuanian: humoras (lt) m Macedonian: хумор m (humor) Malayalam: നർമ്മം (naṟmmaṁ), ഹാസ്യം (hāsyaṁ), തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa) Maori: manawareka Norwegian: Bokmål: humor (no) m Nynorsk: humor m Persian: شوخی (fa) (šuxi) Plautdietsch: Spos n Polish: humor (pl) m Portuguese: humor (pt) m Romanian: umor (ro) n Russian: ю́мор (ru) m (júmor) Scottish Gaelic: àbhachd f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ху̀мор m Roman: hùmor (sh) m Slovak: humor (sk) m Slovene: humor (sl) m Spanish: humor (es) m Tagalog: balantong Tajik: зарофат (zarofat) Tatar: юмор (yumor) Telugu: హాస్యం (te) (hāsyaṁ) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: mizah (tr), şaka (tr) Udmurt: серембур (śerembur) Ukrainian: гу́мор (uk) m (húmor) Uzbek: yumor (uz), hazil (uz), mutoyiba (uz) Vietnamese: sự hài hước (vi)

mood

Arabic: مِزَاج m (mizāj) Belarusian: настро́й m (nastrój) Bulgarian: настрое́ние (bg) n (nastroénie) Catalan: humor (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 心情 (zh) (xīnqíng) Czech: nálada (cs) f Danish: humør n Dutch: stemming (nl), humeur (nl) n Esperanto: humoro (eo) Finnish: tuuli (fi) French: humeur (fr) m, disposition (fr) f German: Laune (de) f, Humor (de) m, Stimmung (de) f Hungarian: kedv (hu), hangulat (hu), humor (hu), kedély (hu), kedélyállapot (hu) Interlingua: humor (ia) Irish: giúmar m Italian: umore (it) m Japanese: 気分 (ja) (きぶん, kibun), 気持ち (ja) (きもち, kimochi) Korean: 기분(氣分) (ko) (gibun) Latvian: garastāvoklis m Lithuanian: nuotaika f, nusiteikimas m Norwegian: Bokmål: humør n Persian: گش (fa) (gaš) Piedmontese: umor m Polish: humor (pl) m, nastrój (pl) m Portuguese: humor (pt) m Russian: настрое́ние (ru) n (nastrojénije) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: расположење n Roman: raspoloženje (sh) n Slovak: nálada f Slovene: razpoloženje n Spanish: humor (es) m Swedish: humör (sv) n Ukrainian: на́стрій (uk) m (nástrij)

historical: any of the four cardinal humors

Arabic: خِلْط (ar) m sg (ḵilṭ), أَخْلَاط m pl (ʔaḵlāṭ) Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: perusneste French: humeur (fr) f German: Körpersaft (de) m, Saft (de) m Hungarian: testnedv (hu) Russian: гумор (ru) m (gumor) Swedish: kroppsvätska (sv) c

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

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) humor (ia) Japanese: (please verify) 笑い話 (わらいばなし, waraibanashi), (please verify) 笑い (ja) (わらい, warai)

Verb

humour (third-person singular simple present humours, present participle humouring, simple past and past participle humoured)

1. (transitive) To pacify by indulging.

   I know you don't believe my story, but humour me for a minute and imagine it to be true.

Translations

to pacify by indulging

Bulgarian: угаждам (bg) (ugaždam) Dutch: tegemoet komen, paaien (nl), toegeven (nl) Finnish: olla mieliksi French: amadouer (fr) German: jemandem seinen Willen lassen, besänftigen (de) Hungarian: kedvében jár (hu), kedvére tesz, alkalmazkodik (hu) Irish: mol le, ionramhái Italian: accontentare (it), assecondare (it) Latin: mōrigerō Russian: угожда́ть (ru) (ugoždátʹ), ублажа́ть (ru) (ublažátʹ) Spanish: seguir la corriente, hacer el favor Swedish: gå till mötes, foga sig

See also

• humour on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “humour”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

English humour, itself from Old French humor, humour. Doublet of humeur.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /y.muʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uʁ

Noun

humour m (plural humours)

1. humor; comic effect in a communication or performance

   Il n’a aucun sens de l’humour.

   He doesn't have any sense of humor.

Derived terms

• humoriste
• humoristique
• humour noir
• sens de l’humour

 

Descendants

• → Romanian: humor, umor
• → Turkish: humor

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English humour. Doublet of umore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈju.mor/^[1]
• Rhymes: -umor

Noun

humour m (invariable)

1. sense of humour/humor

References

1. humour in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Further reading

• humour in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Middle English

Alternative forms

• humore, umour, humor, humur, humer

Etymology

From Old French humor, from Latin hūmor, ūmor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iu̯ˈmuːr/, /ˈiu̯mur/

Noun

humour (plural humours)

1. A "cardinal humour" (four liquids believed to affect health and mood)
2. A bodily liquid or substance that causes disease or affliction.
3. A bodily liquid or substance that is caused by disease.
4. One of the two (usually reckoned as three or four) fluidous portions of the eye.
5. Any fluid; something which flows or moves in a fluidous manner:
   1. The liquid contained within a plant; plant juices.
   2. (rare) A liquid of the human body (e.g. blood)
6. A mist or gas; a substance dissipated in the air.
7. (rare) One of the four classical elements (fire, earth, air, and water).

Descendants

• English: humour (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: humour

References

• “hūmǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-09.

See also

• (four humours) flewme,‎ coler,‎ malencolie,‎ sanguine ^[edit]

Old French

Noun

humour m or f

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of humor