clown

Pronunciation

• IPA: /klaʊn/^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] It may be Scandinavian, compare Icelandic klunni (“clumsy, boorish fellow”), Swedish kluns (“hard knob, clumsy fellow”) and Danish klunt (“log, block”),^[2][3] or Low German, compare North Frisian klönne (“clumsy person”) and Dutch kloen.^[3][4][5] The OED, as quoted by Etymonline, explains it as a word first meaning clod or lump that came to mean a clumsy boor.^[3] Ben Jonson's derivation (1633) from Latin colōnus (“farmer, colonist”), which Merriam-Webster still gives through Middle French coulon, is unlikely on phonetic grounds.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A countryman, rustic or peasant, also spelled cloyne: 1563.^[7][2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense was soon applied to any rude or ill-mannered person:^[8] a boor from 1565, and an uncouth man from 1583.^[7] By 1600 a clown was also the fool or jester of a stage play,^[2][8] and the comic entertainer of the circus developed from this.^[8] The verb, to play the clown, is from about 1600;^[3][6] theatre slang used it for playing a part farcically (1891), and clown around is from 1932.^[3] The fear of clowns has been given a name, coulrophobia, from a Greek word for a stilt-walker.^[8]

Timeline

• 1563 – a rustic, peasant.^[7][2]
• 1583 – an uncouth man.^[7]
• 1600 – a fool or jester.^[2]
• c. 1600 – to clown (verb).^[3]
• 1932 – clown around.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A comic entertainer, usually grotesquely costumed and made up, especially in a circus.
2. A person who jokes and plays tricks.
3. A coarse, clumsy, rude person; a boor.
4. (archaic) A countryman or rustic.

Verb

1. To behave like a clown; to play the fool.
2. To perform as a clown.

Word family

• clownish
• clownishly
• clownishness
• clownery
• clown anemone
• clown fish

Related words

• clod
• clot
• lump
• coulrophobia

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press