clown
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
Noun[edit]

clown (plural clowns)
- 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”, in 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
- A person who acts in a silly fashion.
- He was regarded as the clown of the school, always playing pranks.
- A stupid or badly-behaved 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.
- 2017, Arron Crascall, See Ya Later: The World According to Arron Crascall:
- 'Breaking my sister's heart then getting pissed with his mates in the very next pub while she's sobbing alone?' I dragged this clown away from the fruitie and back to Amy next door, running my mouth off at him as we went.
- (obsolete) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.
- a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:
- This loutish clown is such that you never saw so ill - favoured a vizar
- 1700, Timothy Nourse, Campania Foelix, pages 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.
- (obsolete) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.
- 1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:
- 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; […]
- A clownfish.
- 2006, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, volume 54, numbers 5-8, page 32:
- While the tomato clownfish Amphiprion frenatus has been spawned in captivity, wild-caught tomato clowns are more often seen for sale.
Synonyms[edit]
- (person who acts in a silly fashion): See Thesaurus:fool, jester, & laughingstock
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
clown (third-person singular simple present clowns, present participle clowning, simple past and past participle clowned)
- (intransitive) To act in a silly or playful fashion.
- 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 128:
- Except for Rasheena, the rest of the baby mamas was at least struggling to live halfway right. They used to clown and act shitty whenever they came by Noojie's and saw Carmiesha there. But every last one of them ended up being grateful to her for the things she did for their kids.
- (transitive, African-American Vernacular) To ridicule.
- Synonym: clown on
- 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[edit]
- clown about (British)
- clown around
- clownophobia
See also[edit]
Basque[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown anim
Declension[edit]
indefinite | singular | plural | |
---|---|---|---|
absolutive | clown | clown-a | clown-ak |
ergative | clown-ek | clown-ak | clown-ek |
dative | clown-i | clown-ari | clown-ei |
genitive | clown-en | clown-aren | clown-en |
comitative | clown-ekin | clown-arekin | clown-ekin |
causative | clown-engatik | clown-arengatik | clown-engatik |
benefactive | clown-entzat | clown-arentzat | clown-entzat |
instrumental | clown-ez | clown-az | clown-ez |
inessive | clown-engan | clown-arengan | clown-engan |
locative | — | — | — |
allative | clown-engana | clown-arengana | clown-engana |
terminative | clown-enganaino | clown-arenganaino | clown-enganaino |
directive | clown-enganantz | clown-arenganantz | clown-enganantz |
destinative | clown-enganako | clown-arenganako | clown-enganako |
ablative | clown-engandik | clown-arengandik | clown-engandik |
partitive | clown-ik | — | — |
prolative | clown-tzat | — | — |
Further reading[edit]
- "clown" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (plural clowns, diminutive clowntje n)
- clown (entertainer)
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (plural clowns, feminine clownesse)
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “clown”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English clown.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (invariable)
- clown (artist)
- Synonym: pagliaccio
References[edit]
- ^ clown in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Polish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English clown.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m pers
Declension[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- clown in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- clown in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Romanian[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (plural clowni)
- Alternative form of clovn
Declension[edit]
References[edit]
- clown in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
Spanish[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English clown.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (plural clownes)
Usage notes[edit]
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading[edit]
- “clown”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown c
Declension[edit]
Declension of clown | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | clown | clownen | clowner | clownerna |
Genitive | clowns | clownens | clowners | clownernas |
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
Welsh[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Noun[edit]
clown m (plural clowniaid)
Etymology 2[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- closwn (colloquial, first-person singular conditional)
Verb[edit]
clown
- first-person plural present/future of cloi
- first-person singular imperfect/conditional of cloi
- (literary) first-person plural imperative of cloi
Mutation[edit]
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. |
- English terms derived from North Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aʊn
- Rhymes:English/aʊn/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- African-American Vernacular English
- en:Circus
- en:Comedy
- en:Occupations
- en:People
- en:Theater
- Basque terms derived from English
- Basque terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Basque/au̯n
- Rhymes:Basque/au̯n/1 syllable
- Basque lemmas
- Basque nouns
- Basque terms spelled with C
- Basque terms spelled with W
- Basque animate nouns
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɑu̯n
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French terms spelled with W
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Circus
- French loanwords with irregular pronunciations
- Italian terms borrowed from English
- Italian unadapted borrowings from English
- Italian terms derived from English
- Italian 1-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/awn
- Rhymes:Italian/awn/1 syllable
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian terms spelled with W
- Italian masculine nouns
- Polish terms borrowed from English
- Polish unadapted borrowings from English
- Polish terms derived from English
- Polish 1-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Polish/awn
- Rhymes:Polish/awn/1 syllable
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish masculine nouns
- Polish personal nouns
- pl:Comedy
- pl:Circus
- pl:Theater
- pl:Male people
- pl:Occupations
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian terms spelled with W
- Romanian masculine nouns
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish unadapted borrowings from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish 1-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/on
- Rhymes:Spanish/on/1 syllable
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish terms spelled with W
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish terms spelled with W
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Welsh terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Welsh/ou̯n
- Rhymes:Welsh/ou̯n/1 syllable
- Welsh terms borrowed from English
- Welsh terms derived from English
- Welsh lemmas
- Welsh nouns
- Welsh countable nouns
- Welsh masculine nouns
- Welsh non-lemma forms
- Welsh verb forms
- Welsh literary terms
- cy:Occupations