comedy

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English comedie, from Middle French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeídō, “I sing”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmədi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmədi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧e‧dy

Noun

comedy (countable and uncountable, plural comedies)

1. (countable, historical) A choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece.
2. (countable) A light, amusing play with a happy ending.

   A Midsummer Night's Dream is among Shakespeare's most famous comedies.

3. (countable, Medieval Europe) A narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy).
4. (countable, drama) A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone.
5. (drama) The genre of such works.
6. (uncountable) Entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance.

   Why would you be watching comedy when there are kids starving right now?

7. The art of composing comedy.
8. (countable) A humorous event.

Antonyms

• (light, humorous, or satirical work): drama (in its narrower sense)
• (light, humorous, or satirical work): tragedy

Hypernyms

• (light, humorous, or satirical work): drama (in its broader sense)

Hyponyms

• (light, humorous, or satirical work): farce

Derived terms

• comedian
• comedic
• comedically

 

Expressions with this term at the beginning

• comedy duo
• comedy equals tragedy plus time
• comedy gold
• comedy of errors
• comedy of manners

Expressions with this term at the end

• black comedy
• cringe comedy
• improvisational comedy
• observational comedy
• physical comedy
• prop comedy
• romantic comedy
• screwball comedy
• sex comedy
• situation comedy, sitcom (or sit-com)
• stand-up comedy

 

Related terms

• comic

Descendants

• → Japanese: コメディ (komedi)
• → Korean: 코미디 (komidi)

Translations

a choric song of celebration or revel

• Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
• French: comédie (fr) f
• Galician: comedia f
• Latvian: komēdija f
• Polish: komedia (pl)
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Romanian: comedie (ro) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ме̄дија f

  Roman: kòmēdija (sh) f

a light, amusing play with a happy ending

• Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f (komedija)
• Dutch: blijspel (nl) n
• Galician: comedia f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κωμῳδία f (kōmōidía)

• Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
• Irish: coiméide f
• Latin: comoedia f
• Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
• Polish: komedia (pl) m
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ме̄дија f

  Roman: kòmēdija (sh) f

• Ukrainian: коме́дія (uk) f (komédija)

(medieval Europe) a narrative poem with an agreeable ending

• Galician: comedia f
• Polish: komedia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ме̄дија f

  Roman: kòmēdija (sh) f

dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone

• Arabic: كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmīdiyā), كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmēdiyā)
• Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: komediya, gülməli əsər, məzhəkə
• Belarusian: каме́дыя f (kamjédyja)
• Bulgarian: коме́дия (bg) f (komédija)
• Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喜劇／喜剧 (zh) (xǐjù)

• Crimean Tatar: komediya, mudhike
• Czech: komedie (cs) f, veselohra (cs) f
• Danish: komedie (da) c
• Dutch: komedie (nl) f, blijspel (nl) n
• Estonian: komöödia
• Finnish: komedia (fi)
• French: comédie (fr) f
• Gagauz: komediya, güldürü
• Galician: comedia f
• Georgian: კომედია (ḳomedia)
• German: Komödie (de) f
• Greek: κωμωδία (el) f (komodía)

  Ancient: κωμῳδία f (kōmōidía)

• Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
• Hungarian: vígjáték (hu), komédia (hu)
• Icelandic: gamanleikrit n
• Ido: komedio (io)
• Indonesian: lawak (id), humor (id)
• Irish: coiméide f
• Italian: commedia (it) f
• Japanese: 喜劇 (ja) (きげき, kigeki), コメディ (komedi)
• Kashubian: kòmédiô f
• Kazakh: комедия (kk) (komediä)
• Korean: 코미디 (ko) (komidi), 희극(喜劇) (ko) (huigeuk)
• Kyrgyz: комедия (komediya)
• Latin: cōmoedia f
• Latvian: komēdija f
• Lithuanian: komedija f, juokažaislė f
• Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: komedie (no) m

  Nynorsk: komedie m

• Occitan: comedia (oc) f
• Ossetian: комеди (komedi)
• Ottoman Turkish: تقلید اویونی‎ (täqlid oyunu), تقلید اوینی‎ (täqlid oyunu), مضحكه‎ (muđhike)
• Persian: کمدی‎ (fa) (komedi)
• Polish: komedia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Romanian: comedie (ro) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ме̄дија f

  Roman: kòmēdija (sh) f

• Spanish: comedia (es) f
• Sundanese: bodor
• Swedish: komedi (sv)
• Tagalog: katawanan
• Tajik: мазҳака (tg) (mazhaka)
• Tatar: комедия (qomediya)
• Turkish: komedi (tr)
• Ukrainian: коме́дія (uk) f (komédija)
• Vietnamese: hài kịch (vi)
• Volapük: fredadramat (vo)
• Yiddish: קאָמעדיע‎ f (komedye)

the genre of such works

• Arabic: كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmīdiyā), كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmēdiyā)
• Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: коме́дия (bg) f (komédija)
• Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
• Finnish: komiikka (fi)
• Galician: comedia f
• Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
• Icelandic: kómedía f, gamanleikur (is) m
• Indonesian: komedi (id)
• Irish: coiméide f
• Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
• Persian: کمدی‎ (fa) (komedi)
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ме̄дија f

  Roman: kòmēdija (sh) f

• Spanish: comedia (es) f
• Sundanese: bodor

See also

• ode

References

• “comedy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “comedy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.