cheery

Etymology

It is formed from English cheer + -y, from the noun.^[2][3][4][5] The noun is from Middle English chere (“face, expression, mood”), from Anglo-Norman chere (“face”) and Old French chiere (“face, countenance, look”), from Late Latin cara (“face”), possibly from a Greek word for "head".^[3][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cheerful, merry, lively in manner: 1448, in a letter printed among the papers of John Shillingford.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century, for showing good spirits,^[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From 1655, in Fanshawe's translation of Camoens's Lusiad, the word could also mean "cheering", bringing good spirits.^[2] In the 18th century its use was sometimes frowned on:^[2] Johnson defined it as "gay; sprightly; having the power to make gay", and in the 1773 edition added "a ludicrous word".^[5][2] Its senses are those of cheerful, but at least since the 19th century it has been the more colloquial of the two.^[2][3] In 18th-century slang cheary was one of many words for drunk.^[9]

Timeline

• 1448 – cheerful, merry, lively in appearance or behaviour.^[2][10]
• 1655 – cheering, bringing good spirits.^[2][10]
• 1770 – slang, drunk, listed as cheary.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. In good spirits and showing it; cheerful, lively and friendly: She gave the neighbours a cheery wave.^[11][8][2]
2. Bringing good spirits; cheering: a cheery fire in the grate.^[11][2][4]

Word family

• cheerily
• cheeriness
• uncheery

Related words

• cheer
• cheerful

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins