drôle

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”) from Old Norse trǫll (“giant, troll”) (compare Middle High German trolle (“clown”)), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“creature which walks clumsily”), from *truzlaną (“to walk with short steps”). More at troll.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁol/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ol
• Homophone: drôles

Adjective

drôle (plural drôles)

1. funny, amusing

   Synonyms: comique; désopilant; marrant; rigolo (informal); poilant (France, informal); crampant (Quebec, informal); fendard (France, slang)

2. (sometimes with "de") strange, weird, bizarre
   • 1882, Guy de Maupassant, Madame Baptiste:

     C’est drôle, mais c’est comme ça...

     It's weird, but that's how it is...

   • 1901, Adolphe Orain, Contes de l’Ille-et-Vilaine, page 207:

     C’était un bien drôle de petit homme que le père Langevin, tailleur et porteur de contraintes au Grand-Fougeray.

     He was quite an odd little man, that Father Langevin, mason and "porteur de contraintes" in Grand-Fougeray

   • 1977, “Dix ans plus tôt”, performed by Michel Sardou:

     Tu voulais m’épouser, quelle drôle d’idée, tu n’avais pas 15 ans

     You wanted to marry me, what an odd idea, you were only fifteen

Derived terms

• drolatique
• drôle de guerre
• drôlement
• drôlerie

 

Descendants

• → English: droll
• ⇒ Esperanto: drola
• Louisiana Creole: drol, dròl

See also

• bizarre
• étonnant
• grand
• mal à l’aise
• rigolo

Further reading

• “drôle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• doler