whimsical

Etymology

It is formed from English whimsy + -ical,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the OED deriving it from the first part of that noun.^[7] The noun is probably from whim-wham, a fanciful object,^[2][4][7] and is related to whim, its later form.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of people, their actions and thoughts, full of or governed by whims: 1653, in W. Ramesey's Astrologia Restaurata.^[7][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1650s, as "full of or characterized by odd fancies or peculiar notions".^[4]

Semantic evolution

From 1675 the word was also used of things that depart from the ordinary as if by caprice, hence fantastic, freakish, odd or comical,^[7] and between 1654 and 1748 of things subject to the caprice of fortune.^[7] In 1714 Swift used Whimsicals as a cant name for a group of Tories in the reign of Queen Anne.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "freakish; capricious; oddly fanciful".^[6] Modern dictionaries give a gentler, playful sense first, spontaneously fanciful or quaint.^[9]

Timeline

• 1653 – of people or actions, full of whims, capricious.^[7][8]
• 1654 – subject to the caprice of fortune (obsolete by 1748).^[7]
• 1675 – fantastic, fanciful, odd, comical.^[7]
• 1714 – noun, Whimsical, a name for a group of Tories under Queen Anne.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Playfully or spontaneously fanciful; quaint or unusual in an amusing way: a whimsical sketch of dancing teapots.^[9][8]
2. Given to whims; capricious or unpredictable.^[9][8][7]
3. Odd, fantastic or freakish, as if determined by caprice.^[7][9]

Word family

• whimsically
• whimsicality
• whimsicalness
• unwhimsical

Related words

• whimsy
• whim
• whim-wham

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins