ridiculous

Pronunciation

• IPA: /rɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, /rəˈdɪk.jə.ləs/^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ridiculus (“laughable”) or ridiculōsus,^[2][3][4] from ridēre “to laugh”.^[2][5][3] It is related to ridicule, deride and risible.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deserving ridicule, absurd: the 1540s in Etymonline, as ridyculouse, and 1550 in the OED.^[2][6] Shakespeare and other 17th-century writers sometimes spelled it rediculous.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By the 18th century the sense was weakening toward “comically absurd”.^[2] In dialect and in the American South it meant “outrageous, scandalous” from 1839;^[6][2] Halliwell in 1852 said it was used in some counties of very indecent behaviour.^[2][7] The slang sense “excellent” is by 1959, in jazz slang.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1540s – deserving ridicule.^[2]
• 1839 – dialect, outrageous.^[6][2]
• 1959 – slang, excellent.^[6][2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Very silly or unreasonable; absurd.

Word family

• ridiculously
• ridiculousness
• unridiculous

Related words

• deride
• derision
• ridicule
• risible

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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)