Etymologically
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ridicule

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ridicule and directly borrowed from Latin rīdiculum (“a joke, a piece of humour”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] the noun use of the neuter of rīdiculus (“laughable, funny, absurd”),[2][3][8][7] from rīdeō (“to laugh”) with the diminutive suffix -culus.[2][9][10] The French noun is recorded from 1500–03 in the sense of a laughable feature, and since the mid 17th century as derision or an object of ridicule; the phrase tourner en ridicule (“to make a mockery of”) is found in the late 16th century.[2] Barnhart thinks the borrowing was probably helped by the earlier English ridiculous, recorded from 1550.[4] The verb is probably formed from the noun,[2][7][11] perhaps reinforced by ridiculer, recorded from 1535.[4][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ridiculous thing or feature, an absurdity: before 1658, in James Durham's Blessednesse of Death.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1667,[5] Barnhart to 1677,[4] and Etymonline to the 1670s.[3]

Semantic evolution

The earliest senses were concrete: an absurd thing (from before 1658, now obsolete) and an object of mockery, a laughing stock (1678, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress).[2][3] The phrase to turn into ridicule, to make a mockery of, is recorded from 1667.[2] The modern sense, mocking words or behaviour, dates from 1675 in the OED and 1690 in Barnhart.[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as wit of the kind that provokes laughter, quoting Pope and Swift.[11] The verb first meant both to mock (1680) and, rarely, to make ridiculous (1684–1734).[2][3][4] An adjective ridicule, ridiculous, had a short life in the late 17th century (1669–83),[2] and Chapman had earlier used the verb ridiculize.[3][2] In Ayrshire a ridicule was also a practical joke.[12]

Timeline

  • before 1658 – an absurd thing or feature (now obsolete).[2]
  • 1667 – to turn into ridicule.[2]
  • 1675 – mockery, derision.[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1690.[4]
  • 1678 – an object of derision, a laughing stock.[2]
  • 1680 – verb, to mock or make fun of.[2][5]
  • 1684 – verb, to make ridiculous (obsolete by 1734).[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Words or actions meant to make someone or something look foolish; mockery or derision: His proposal was met with open ridicule.[9][5][2][7]
  2. (archaic) A person or thing that is absurd or laughed at; a laughing stock.[5][2][7]
  3. (archaic) The quality of being ridiculous.[5][2][7]

Verb

  1. To make fun of; to mock or deride: The critics ridiculed the play's clumsy plot.[9][5][2][7]
  2. (obsolete, 1684–1734) To make ridiculous.[2][7][3]

Word family

  • ridiculer

Usage notes

A different ridicule, a woman's small handbag, from 1799, is a punning alteration of réticule, reticule, after this word;[2][7][5] it later survived only in dialect,[7][5] as in north Lincolnshire.[12] Merriam-Webster distinguishes ridicule, a belittling that is often malicious, from deride, mock, taunt and twit.[5]

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 o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ 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)