merry

See also Merry

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (in accents without the "Mary, marry, merry" merger)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (in accents with the "Mary, marry, merry" merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛri

Alternative forms

• merrie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English merie, mirie, myrie, murie, murȝe, from Old English meriġe, miriġe, myriġe, myreġe, myrġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Old High German murg, murgi ("short, brief"; > German murk (“short, lazy”)), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”).

Adjective

merry (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)

1. Jolly and full of high spirits

   We had a very merry Christmas.

2. Festive and full of fun and laughter
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     f I have the chance, I will make our worshipful Sheriff pay right well for that which he hath done to me. Maybe I may bring him some time into Sherwood Forest and have him to a right merry feast with us.

   Everyone was merry at the party.

3. Brisk

   The play moved along at a merry pace.

Alternative forms

• mery

Synonyms

• happy
• gay
• content
• joyful
• cheerful
• pleased
• exultant
• ecstatic
• jovial

Antonyms

• miserable
• unhappy

Translations

Jolly and full of high-spirits

• Arabic: مرح (ar) (máriḥ), فرح (ar) (fáriḥ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愉快 (cmn) (yúkuài)

• Czech: veselý (cs)
• Dutch: vrolijk (nl)
• Finnish: hauska (fi)
• French: joyeux (fr)
• German: fröhlich (de)
• Hungarian: vidám (hu)
• Ido: joyoza (io)
• Irish: shona (ga)

• Italian: allegro (it)
• Japanese: 陽気 (ja) (ようき, yōki)
• Korean: 즐거운 (ko) (jeulgeoun)
• Persian: شادکام (fa) (shadkam)
• Portuguese: alegre (pt)
• Russian: весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj) , радостный (ru) (rádostnyj) 
• Spanish: alegre (es)
• Swedish: munter (sv)
• Vietnamese: vui (vi)
• West Frisian: merie

Festive and full of fun and laughter

• Finnish: hauska (fi)

• Portuguese: festivo (pt)

Brisk

Derived terms

• merrier
• merrily
• merriment