Etymologically
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clown

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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
  • 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