Etymologically
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ridiculous

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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
  • 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)