Etymologically
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comical

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɒmɪkəl/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɑmɪkəl/[1]

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

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