silly English · revision 208
5 Oct 2026, 22:17 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, word family, related words; definitions under Modern meaning” current version
Changes in this edit
@@ -1,10 +1,25 @@
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈsɪl.i/^(Wiktionary)
+
==Etymology==
− A later form of [[enm|sely]], ''seli'',^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[inh|ang|gesǣlig|t=happy, fortunate, blessed]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(Wiktionary) related to ''sǣl'' “happiness”,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from Proto-Germanic ''*sæligas''.^(Etymonline) Compare [[de|selig|t=blessed]].^(Etymonline)
+ A later form of [[enm|sely]], ''seli'',^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[inh|ang|gesǣlig|t=happy, fortunate, blessed]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(Wiktionary) related to ''sǣl'' “happiness”,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from Proto-Germanic ''*sæligas''.^(Etymonline) Compare [[de|selig|t=blessed]].^(Etymonline) The change from long ''e'' to short ''i'' is one of few such instances, as in ''breeches''.^(Etymonline)
− The meaning shifted remarkably: from “happy” to “blessed”, “pious”, “innocent” (c. 1200), “harmless”, “pitiable” (late 13th century), “weak” (c. 1300), and finally “foolish” (1570s).^(Etymonline) Compare [[nice]], whose meaning developed almost in reverse.^(Wiktionary)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ “Happy, blessed”, the sense of the Old English word.^(Etymonline)^(AHD) The OED's earliest quotation for ''silly'' itself, “deserving of pity”, is from c. 1425.^(OED 1989)
− ==Adjective==
− '''silly'''
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The meaning shifted remarkably: from “happy” to “blessed”, “pious”, “innocent” (c. 1200), “harmless”, “pitiable” (late 13th century), “weak” (c. 1300), and finally “foolish” (1570s).^(Etymonline) Words for “innocent” commonly develop through “harmless, guileless” into “naive, foolish”.^(Etymonline) From c. 1550 to c. 1675 ''silly'' was used extensively in the senses “pitiable”, “helpless”, and “weak”, and it is often hard to tell which was meant.^(OED 1989) The sense “stunned, dazed” dates from 1886,^(Etymonline) the noun “a silly person” from 1858 in writing for children,^(Etymonline) and ''silly season'', journalists' slang for the late-summer lack of news, from 1861.^(Etymonline)
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1200 – “innocent”.^(Etymonline)
+ * late 13th century – “pitiable”.^(Etymonline)
+ * c. 1300 – “weak”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1570s – “foolish”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1858 – noun, “a silly person”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1861 – ''silly season''.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1886 – “stunned, dazed”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Adjective===
# Lacking good sense; foolish.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
# Frivolous, not serious.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)
@@ -14,8 +29,21 @@
# ''(archaic)'' Weak and helpless; also simple, rustic.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(OED 1989)
− ==Noun==
− '''silly'''
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(informal)'' A silly person.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− # ''(informal)'' A silly person.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[sillily]]
+ * [[silliness]]
+ * [[unsilly]]
+ * [[silly billy]]
+ * [[silly putty]]
+ * [[silly season]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[nice]]
+ * [[seely]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ ''Silly'' usually implies a milder degree of foolishness than its synonyms.^(Wiktionary)
==References==