merry

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɛɹi/; /ˈmɛəɹi/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English murie (later mirie, mery),^[2][3] inherited from Old English myriġe (“pleasing, agreeable”),^[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz,^[2][3][6] cognate with Old High German murg (“short”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gamaurgjan, “to shorten”),^[2][7][8] and outside Germanic with Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) and Latin brevis (“short”),^[2][8][5] from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”).^[2][4] The leap from "short" to "pleasant" is explained as making time seem short by passing it pleasantly,^[6][8][2] compare Old Norse skemta (“to amuse oneself”) from skammr (“short”), and German Kurzweil (“amusement”), literally "short while".^[2][9] The modern spelling merry is a Kentish form.^[9] mirth is from the same base.^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pleasing, agreeable, delightful, of things: Old English, before 899, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle English merry described pleasant things rather than happy people: pleasant music, places, weather (as in a merry wind for sailing) and looks, senses that died out between 1275 and 1785.^[5] The sense "full of lively enjoyment" emerged in the 14th century,^[6][11] and of a tale or jest, amusing, from about 1390, in Chaucer.^[5][11] "Slightly drunk" is from the 16th century^[11] and is still British informal use.^[12] merriment is from 1576, and merry-andrew, a clown, from 1673, in Dryden.^[2]

Timeline

• before 899 – pleasing, agreeable.^[2][5]
• before 1200 – murie, joyous.^[2]
• c. 1390 – of a tale, amusing.^[5]
• 16th century – tipsy.^[11]
• 1576 – merriment.^[2]
• 1673 – merry-andrew.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Cheerful and lively; full of fun and good spirits.
2. (British informal) Slightly drunk.
3. (archaic) Pleasant, delightful.

Word family

• merrily
• merriness
• merriment
• merry-go-round
• merrymaker
• merrymaking
• merry-andrew
• merrythought

Related words

• mirth
• brief
• brevity

Usage notes

In dialect a different merry is the wild cherry; it comes from French merise, a blend of amer (bitter) and cerise (cherry), whose final s was taken for a plural.^[8][7][13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ 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)