silly

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

Phonetic variant of seely, related to soul. From Old English *sǣliġ, "blessed", (attested only in form ġesǣliġ), from Proto-Germanic *sēlīgaz. Cognate with West Frisian sillich, Dutch zalig, German selig. More at sely.

Pronunciation

• SAMPA: /"sIli/
• IPA: /ˈsɪli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪli

Adjective

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

1. (obsolete) Pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:

     A silly man, in simple weedes forworne, / And soild with dust of the long dried way; / His sandales were with toilesome trauell torne, / And face all tand with scorching sunny ray [...].

2. (obsolete) Simple, unsophisticated, ordinary; rustic, ignorant.
   • 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":

     For, if we justly call each silly man / A little island, What shall we call thee than?

3. foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom; frivolous, trifling.

   I made a very silly mistake.

4. irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors.

   What a silly kid, he's always getting in trouble.

5. playful, giggly.

   The newlyweds called each other silly little nicknames.

6. semiconscious, witless.

   The impact of the ball knocked him silly.

7. (cricket) of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short
8. (pejorative) simple, not intelligent, refined.

   John was prosperous and his helpless, silly father could be of no use to him.

Derived terms

• sillily (adverb)
• silly season

Antonyms

• ("playful"): pious

Synonyms

• ("playful"): charming

Translations

foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom

Arabic: سخيف (ar) (sakhiif) Armenian: հիմար (hy) (himar), տխմար (hy) (txmar) Chinese: Mandarin: 愚蠢 (cmn) (yúchǔn), 笨 (cmn) (bèn), 傻 (cmn) (shǎ), 糊塗 (cmn), 糊涂 (cmn) (hútu), 無聊 (cmn), 无聊 (cmn) (wúliáo), 憨痴 (cmn) (hānchī) Dutch: ondoordacht (nl) Finnish: typerä (fi), hölmö (fi) French: idiot (fr) m., bête (fr), fou (fr) m., stupide (fr)

German: doof (de) Hebrew: מטופש (he) (metupásh) m., טיפשי (he) (tipshí) m. Ido: stulta (io) Interlingua: fatue Italian: sciocco (it) m. Japanese: 馬鹿げた (ja) (bakageta), 他愛ない (ja) (tawainai), 馬鹿 (ja) (ばか, baka) Russian: глупый (ru) (glúpyj) Scottish Gaelic: amaideach (gd) Spanish: niñito (es)

irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors

Dutch: dom (nl) Finnish: hölmö, ajattelematon, vastuuton, typerä (fi) French: idiot (fr), fou (fr) m., givré (fr) m. (slang), branque (fr) (slang), jeté (fr) m. (slang)

Japanese: 馬鹿 (ja) (baka), 阿呆 (ja) (aho) Norwegian: tullete (no), fjollete (no) Spanish: infantil (es)

playful, giggly

Dutch: ondeugend (nl), gek (nl) Finnish: hassu (fi) French: bébête (fr), idiot (fr), nunuche (fr) f. German: albern (de)

Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai) Russian: глупышка (ru) (glúpyj) Spanish: payaso (es) Swedish: lekfull, fnittrig (sv)

semiconscious

Finnish: sekava (fi)

French: abruti (fr) Spanish: semiaturdido (es)

cricket: of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short

pejorative: simple, not intelligent, refined

Dutch: dom (nl), stom (nl) Finnish: yksinkertainen (fi), hölmö (fi) French: idiot de (fr), imbécile de (fr)

Italian: sciocco (it) m. Japanese: 馬鹿 (ja) (baka), 阿呆 (ja) (aho), 愚鈍 (ja) (gudon) Scottish Gaelic: amaideach (gd) Spanish: tontito (es), simple (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: sensenca, stulteta

Indonesian: tolol, dungu Spanish: necio, bobo, simple, absurdo, insensato, tonto

Noun

silly (plural sillies)

1. (colloquial) A silly person; a fool.
2. (colloquial) A mistake.

Anagrams

• silyl
• slily
• yills