humor English · revision 7019

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1340|origins=la umor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /hjuː.mə(ɹ)/ ''(UK)''; /ˈhjuːmɚ/, /ˈjuːmɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English humour, [[bor|fro|humor|t=liquid, dampness; a bodily humour]], umor,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|umor|t=body fluid, moisture]], also spelled humor by a fancied connection with humus, earth,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) related to [[m|la|umeo|alt=ūmēre|t=to be wet]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) cognate with Greek [[m|grc|ὑγρός|tr=hugrós|t=wet]] and Old Norse vǫkr, damp.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Moisture; a body fluid: 1340 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English it meant any liquid, and especially one of the four fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, choler and black bile) whose proportions were thought to determine health and temperament.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MW Word Histories) From disposition or temperament it came to mean a mood or state of mind (1525),^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Word Histories) then a whim or caprice (1565), a sense mocked by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.^(Barnhart 1988) From the whim sense came funniness, a jocular turn of mind (1682),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MW Word Histories) and the verb, to indulge someone's fancy (1588, in ''Love's Labour's Lost'').^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The old sense survives in the ''aqueous'' and ''vitreous humour'' of the eye.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1340 – a body fluid.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1525 – mood, state of mind.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1565 – a whim.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1588 – to indulge (verb).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1682 – funniness.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The quality of being amusing or comic.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # The ability to see or express what is funny: ''a sense of humor''.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # A state of mind; [[mood]]: ''in a good humor''.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Any of the four bodily fluids once thought to determine health and temperament.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # A fluid of the body, such as that of the eye.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To comply with the wishes or mood of; to [[indulge]].^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[humorful]]

+ * [[humorless]]

+ * [[humorlessly]]

+ * [[humorlessness]]

+ * [[neurohumor]]

+ * [[outhumor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[humorous]]

+ * [[humour]]

+ * [[humorist]]

+ * [[humid]]

+ * [[sanguine]]

+ * [[phlegmatic]]

+ * [[choleric]]

+ * [[melancholy]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ British English spells the word [[humour]].^(COED 2004)^(NODE 1998) Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories traces how the four humours were linked to the elements, giving the temperaments choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholy.^(MW Word Histories)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}