comical

Etymology

It is formed from English comic + -al,^[2][3][4][5] or, as the OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English have it, from Latin cōmicus (“of comedy”) with the same suffix.^[6][7][5] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek κωμικός (kōmikós, “of comedy”),^[6][8][5] from κῶμος (kômos, “merrymaking, revel”), Klein's "comic chorus".^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to comedy: before 1475, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the 1550s,^[5] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word could mean "suited to comedy", hence trivial, coarse or low (until 1727), and "ending like a comedy", hence happy (until 1676).^[6][5][4] The sense of something unintentionally laughable is recorded from 1575, and of something meant to be funny from about 1589, in Nashe;^[6] Etymonline dates the meaning "funny, exciting mirth" to the 1680s.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "raising mirth; merry; diverting" first.^[9] The original sense, "of comedy", passed to comic and is now rare.^[6] In English regional speech, especially in the south-west, comical came to mean "odd, strange" (from 1713), "awkward, difficult to deal with" (from 1752) and "unwell" (from 1755),^[6] and the English Dialect Dictionary records it for odd or peculiar from Cumberland to Cornwall, as in to be struck comical.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1475 – of or relating to comedy.^[6]
• c. 1565 – suitable for comedy; trivial, low (obsolete by 1727).^[6]
• c. 1569 – ending happily, like a comedy (obsolete by 1676).^[6]
• 1575 – unintentionally laughable, ridiculous.^[6]
• c. 1589 – intentionally funny, in Nashe.^[6]
• 1713 – strange, odd (later south-western regional).^[6]
• 1747 – noun, a comical person.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing laughter; funny: The puppy's comical attempts to climb the stairs.^[11][2][6]
2. Ludicrous or laughable, without meaning to be.^[11][6]
3. (regional) Odd or strange; also awkward or unwell.^[6][10]
4. (obsolete) Relating to comedy rather than tragedy.^[2][6][4]
5. (obsolete) Ending happily, like a comedy.^[2][6][4]

Word family

• comicality
• comically
• semicomical
• uncomical

Related words

• comic
• comedy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins