comedy

English

Alternative forms

• comedie (archaic, often affected as such for humourous effect)
• comœdie (archaic)
• comœdy (archaic)

Etymology

First attested in 1374. From Old French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidia), from κῶμος (kōmos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidē, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidos, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeidō, “I sing”).

Noun

Wikipedia comedy (countable and uncountable; plural comedies)

1. archaic Greece. a choric song of celebration or revel
2. ancient Greece. a light, amusing play with a happy ending
3. medieval Europe. a narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy)
4. (drama) A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone
5. (drama) The genre of such works
6. entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance
7. the art of composing comedy
8. a humorous event

Antonyms

• drama
• tragedy

Derived terms

• comedic
• comedically
• comedy of errors
• situation comedy, sitcom
• comic
• comedian

Related terms

• comic

Translations

(archaic Greece) a choric song of celebration or revel

Catalan: comèdia (ca) f. Croatian: kòmēdija (hr) f.

Polish: komedia (pl) Russian: комедия (ru) (kom'édija) f.

(ancient Greece) a light, amusing play with a happy ending

Croatian: kòmēdija (hr) f. Hebrew: קומדיה (he) (qomedia) f. Latin: comoedia (la) f.

Polish: komedia (pl) m. Russian: комедия (ru) (kom'édija) f.

(medieval Europe) a narrative poem with an agreeable ending

Croatian: kòmēdija (hr) f. Polish: komedia (pl) f.

Russian: комедия (ru) (kom'édija) f.

dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone

Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergut’yun) Azeri: komediya (az) Belarusian: камедыя (be) Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f. Catalan: comèdia (ca) f. Crimean Tatar: komediya Croatian: kòmēdija (hr) f. Czech: komedie (cs) f., veselohra (cs) f. Danish: komedie (da) Dutch: komedie (nl) f., blijspel (nl) n. French: comédie (fr) f. Georgian: კომედია (ka) (komedia) German: Komödie (de) f. Greek: κωμωδία (el) f. Hebrew: קומדיה (he) (qomedia) f. Hungarian: vígjáték (hu), komédia (hu) Indonesian: lawak (id) Italian: commedia (it) f. Kazakh: комедия (kk)

Kyrgyz: комедия (ky) Latin: cōmoedia (la) f. Latvian: komēdija (lv) Lithuanian: komedija (lt) Norwegian: komedie (no) Novial: komedie Ossetian: комеди Polish: komedia (pl) f. Portuguese: comédia (pt) f. Romanian: comedie (ro) f. Russian: комедия (ru) (kom'édija) f. Spanish: comedia (es) f. Sundanese: bodor (su) Swedish: komedi (sv) Tajik: мазҳака (tg) (mazhaka) Tatar: комедия (tt) Turkish: komedi (tr) Ukrainian: комедія (uk) f. Volapük: fredadramat (vo)

the genre of such works

Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergut’yun) Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f. Catalan: comèdia (ca) f. Croatian: kòmēdija (hr) f.

Hebrew: קומדיה (he) (qomedia) f. Indonesian: komedi (id) Russian: комедия (ru) (kom'édija) f. Sundanese: bodor (su)