clown

See also: Clown

English

Alternative forms

• clowne, cloyne (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier clowne, cloyne (“man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant”), likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Icelandic klunni (“clumsy fellow, klutz”). Compare also North Frisian klönne (“clumsy fellow, klutz”), Dutch kluns (“clumsy fellow”). Unlikely from Latin colōnus (“colonist, farmer”), although learned awareness of this term may have influenced semantic development.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kloun, IPA^(key): /klaʊn/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn

Noun

A clown

clown (plural clowns)

1. A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig.
   • 2008, Lich King, "Black Metal Sucks", Toxic Zombie Onslaught.

     Over there in Norway, the churches all burn down / Let's go dress in goth clothes and get painted like a clown

2. A person who acts in a silly fashion.
3. A stupid person.
   • 2013, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Gold Coast: Three Californias (Wild Shore Triptych; 2)‎^[1], Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 122:

     Everything’s on the table, the specs are there in the RFP and can’t be changed by some clown in the Air Force who happens to come up with a new idea.

4. (obsolete) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Philip Sidney to this entry?)

   • 1700, Timothy Nourse, Campania Foelix, pp. 15–16

     […] three things ought always to be kept under: a mastiff dog, a stone horse and a clown; and really I think a snarling, cross-grained clown to be the most unlucky beast of three.

5. (obsolete) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.
   • 1785, William Cowper, The Task

     The clown, the child of nature, without guile.

   • August 25, 1759, Samuel Johnson, The Idler No. 71

     He […] began to descend to familiar questions, endeavouring to accommodate his discourse to the grossness of rustic understandings. The clowns soon found that he did not know wheat from rye, and began to despise him; one of the boys, by pretending to show him a bird's nest, decoyed him into a ditch; […]

Synonyms

• (person who acts in a silly fashion): buffoon, fool

Derived terms

• clown beetle
• class clown
• clown doctor
• clownfish
• clownish

Translations

performance artist working in a circus

• Afrikaans: nar (af), harlekyn, paljas (af)
• Albanian: klloun m, palaço (sq) m
• Arabic: مُهَرِّج‎ m (muharrij)

  Hijazi Arabic: مهرج‎ (muharrij)

• Armenian: ծաղրածու (hy) (całracu)
• Asturian: payasu m
• Azerbaijani: oyunbaz
• Belarusian: клоўн m (kloŭn)
• Bulgarian: кло́ун (bg) m (klóun)
• Catalan: pallasso (ca) m, pallassa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小丑 (zh) (xiǎochǒu)

• Czech: klaun m
• Danish: klovn (da) c
• Dutch: clown (nl) m
• Esperanto: klaŭno, klaŭnino (female)
• Faroese: íspegil m, (colloquial) klovnur m
• Finnish: klovni (fi), pelle (fi)
• French: clown (fr) m, clownesse (fr) f, pitre (fr) m or f, bouffon (fr) m, bouffonne (fr) f
• Galician: pallaso (gl) m
• Georgian: კლოუნი (ḳlouni)
• German: Clown (de) m, Clownin (de) f
• Greek: κλόουν (el) m (klóoun), παλιάτσος (el) m (paliátsos), γελωτοποιός (el) m (gelotopoiós)

  Ancient: γελωτοποιός m (gelōtopoiós)

• Greenlandic: quiasaarisartoq
• Hebrew: לֵיצָן‎ (he) m (leitsán), ליצנית‎ f (leytsanit)
• Hindi: विदूषक (hi) m (vidūṣak), जोकर m (jokar)
• Hungarian: bohóc (hu)
• Icelandic: trúður (is) m
• Ido: klauno (io)
• Indonesian: badut (id)
• Irish: áilteoir m
• Italian: pagliaccio (it) m, pagliaccia f
• Japanese: ピエロ (piero), 道化師 (どうけし, dōkeshi)
• Kazakh: клоун (klown)

• Korean: 어릿광대 (ko) (eoritgwangdae), 광대 (ko) (gwangdae), 피에로 (ko) (piero)
• Kyrgyz: клоун (kloun)
• Latin: sanniō m, balatrō m
• Latvian: klauns m
• Macedonian: кловн m (klovn), палја́чо m (paljáčo)
• Malay: badut (ms)
• Malayalam: കോമാളി (ml) (kōmāḷi)
• Marathi: जोकर m (jokar)
• Navajo: łą́ʼátʼíinii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klovn (no) m

  Nynorsk: klovn m

• Occitan: palhassa (oc) m
• Persian: دلقک‎ (fa) (dalqak)
• Plautdietsch: Spucht m
• Polish: klaun (pl) m
• Portuguese: palhaço (pt) m, palhaça (pt) f
• Romanian: clovn (ro) m, bufon (ro) m, bufonă f, măscărici (ro) m, paiață (ro) f
• Romansch: clown m
• Russian: кло́ун (ru) m (klóun), шут (ru) m (šut), пая́ц (ru) m (pajác)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: клаун m, кловн m

  Roman: klaun (sh) m, klovn (sh) m

• Slovak: klaun m
• Slovene: klovn (sl) m, klovnesa f
• Spanish: payaso (es) m, payasa f, clown (es) m, clon (es) m
• Swedish: clown (sv) c, pajas (sv) c
• Tagalog: payaso
• Tajik: масхарабоз (masxaraboz)
• Thai: ตัวตลก (th) (dtuua-dtà-lòk)
• Turkish: palyaço (tr)
• Ukrainian: кло́ун (uk) m (klóun)
• Uzbek: kloun, masxaraboz (uz)
• Vietnamese: người hề (vi)
• Welsh: clown m
• Yiddish: פּאַיאַץ‎ m (payats)

person acting in a silly fashion

• Bulgarian: шут (bg) m (šut), паля́чо (bg) n (paljáčo)
• Danish: klovn (da) c
• Finnish: pelle (fi)
• French: bouffon (fr) m, bouffonne (fr) f, pitre (fr) m or f, guignol (fr) m, idiot (fr) m, idiote (fr) f, andouille (fr) f, mariole (fr) m
• German: Trottel (de) m
• Greek: παλιάτσος (el) m (paliátsos), τζουτζές (el) m (tzoutzés), καραγκιόζης (el) m (karagkiózis)
• Hungarian: bohóc (hu)
• Icelandic: galgopi (is) m, glanni (is) m, grallari (is) m
• Irish: áilteoir m
• Italian: buffone (it) m, buffona f
• Japanese: 道化 (ja) (どうけ, dōke)
• Macedonian: кловн m (klovn)

• Maori: kiri hangareka
• Norman: bouffon m
• Persian: دلقک‎ (fa) (dalqak), شوت‎ (fa) (šut)
• Polish: pajac (pl) m
• Portuguese: palhaço (pt) m, palhaça (pt) f
• Romanian: paiață (ro) f, bufon (ro) m, bufonă f
• Russian: кло́ун (ru) m (klóun), шут (ru) m (šut), пая́ц (ru) m (pajác), скоморо́х (ru) m (skomoróx), фигля́р (ru) m (figljár), буффо́н (ru) m (buffón)
• Slovene: klovn (sl) m
• Spanish: payaso (es) m, payasa f
• Swahili: mcheshi (sw)
• Swedish: clown (sv) c
• Tajik: ширинкор (širinkor)
• Yiddish: פּאַיאַץ‎ m (payats)

Verb

clown (third-person singular simple present clowns, present participle clowning, simple past and past participle clowned)

1. (intransitive) To act in a silly or playful fashion.
2. (transitive, African-American Vernacular) To ridicule.
   • 2002, Vibe (volume 10, number 11, page 62)

     The show Dismissed was one of my favorites, because I like to see people get clowned.

   • 2017, Darrell Smith, Miracle Baby

     All my comrades were laughing and clowning me, but shit, that didn't stop me from talking more shit.

Derived terms

• clown about (British)
• clown around

See also

• coulrophobia
• jester
• jackpudding

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɑu̯n/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: clown
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯n

Noun

clown m (plural clowns, diminutive clowntje n)

1. clown (entertainer)

Derived terms

• circusclown
• clownsneus
• clownvis

See also

• august
• harlekijn
• paljas
• pierrot
• nar
• witte clown
• zot

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French

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klun/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: clowns

Noun

clown m (plural clowns)

1. clown (performer)
2. clown (person who acts in a comic way)

Synonyms

• (performer): (Louisiana) macaque

Further reading

• “clown” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Noun

clown m (invariable)

1. clown (artist)

Synonyms

• pagliaccio

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klawn/

Noun

clown m pers

1. (comedy) Alternative spelling of klaun.

Declension

declension of clown

	singular	plural
nominative	clown	clowni
genitive	clowna	clownów
dative	clownowi	clownom
accusative	clowna	clownów
instrumental	clownem	clownami
locative	clownie	clownach
vocative	clownie	clowni

Derived terms

• (noun) clownada
• (adjective) clownowski

Further reading

• clown in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• clown in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• clon

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klon/, [klõn]

Noun

clown m (plural clownes)

1. clown (circus performance artist)

   Synonym: payaso

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Swedish

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklaʊn/

Noun

clown c

1. clown

Declension

Declension of clown
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	clown	clownen	clowner	clownerna
Genitive	clowns	clownens	clowners	clownernas

Derived terms

• clownfisk

References

• clown in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

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Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɔu̯n/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English clown.

Noun

clown m (plural clowniaid)

1. clown

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• closwn (colloquial, first-person singular conditional)

Verb

clown

1. first-person plural present/future of cloi
2. first-person singular imperfect/conditional of cloi
3. (literary) first-person plural imperative of cloi

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
clown	glown	nghlown	chlown
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.