facetious

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fəˈsiːʃəs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French facétieux,^[2][3][4][5] from facétie “a jest”,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin facetia (“jest, witticism”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin facetus (“witty, elegant”),^[2][3][4] which is of unknown origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of style or manners, polished and agreeable; urbane (1592).^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The “polished” sense soon gave way to “given to joking, humorous” (1599).^[3][6][5] The word was formerly often used approvingly, for wit that kept its dignity,^[4][6] but later it came to suggest a wish to be funny that is out of place or poorly timed.^[4][5][1]

Timeline

• 1592 – polished, urbane (obsolete).^[6][3]
• 1599 – of persons, jocular, waggish.^[6][3][5]
• 1605 – of remarks or writings.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Joking, often inappropriately; not meant to be taken seriously.
2. Playfully humorous; jocular.

Word family

• facetiously
• facetiousness

Related words

• facetiae
• flippant
• waggish

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press