Etymologically
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facetious

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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
  • 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