comedy

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

First attested in 1374. From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French comedie, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin cōmoedia, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmədi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmədi/

• 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.
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

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• drama
• tragedy

Derived terms

Derived terms

• comedian
• comedic
• comedically

• comedy of errors
• comic
• situation comedy, sitcom

Related terms

• comic

Translations

a choric song of celebration or revel

• Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
• French: comédie (fr) f
• Latvian: komēdija f
• Polish: komedia (pl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Romanian: comedie (ro) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f

a light, amusing play with a happy ending

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

  Ancient: κωμῳδία f (kōmōidía)

• Hebrew: קומדיה (he) f (qomedia)
• Latin: comoedia f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: komedia (pl) m
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
• Ukrainian: коме́дія f (komédija)

(medieval Europe) a narrative poem with an agreeable ending

• Polish: komedia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f

dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone

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

  Mandarin: 喜劇／喜剧 (zh) (xǐjù), 喜剧 (zh) (xǐjù)

• Crimean Tatar: komediya
• 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
• 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)
• Ido: komedio (io)
• Indonesian: lawak (id), humor (id)
• Italian: commedia (it) f
• Japanese: 喜劇 (ja) (きげき, kigeki), コメディ (komedi)
• Kashubian: kòmédiô f
• Kazakh: комедия (kk) (komediä)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 코미디 (ko) (komidi), 희극 (ko) (huigeuk)
• Kyrgyz: комедия (komediya)
• Latin: cōmoedia f
• Latvian: komēdija f
• Lithuanian: komedija f, juokažaislė f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: komedie (no) m

  Nynorsk: komedie m

• Novial:
• Ossetian: комеди (komedi)
• Persian: کمدی (fa) (komedi)
• Polish: komedia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Romanian: comedie (ro) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
• Spanish: comedia (es) f
• Sundanese: bodor
• Swedish: komedi (sv)
• Tagalog: katawanan
• Tajik: мазҳака (tg) (mazhaka)
• Tatar: комедия (qomediyä)
• Turkish: komedi (tr)
• Ukrainian: коме́дія 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) (katakergutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: коме́дия (bg) f (komédija)
• Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
• Galician: comedia f
• Hebrew: קומדיה (he) f (qomedia)
• Indonesian: komedi (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: کمدی (fa) (komedi)
• Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
• Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
• Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
• Spanish: comedia (es) f
• Sundanese: bodor

References

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