merry

See also: Merry and Merrý

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹi/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɹi/
• (General American) enPR: mĕrʹē, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹi/, /ˈmeɪɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry distinction)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛɹi
• Homophone: Merry
• Homophones: Mary, marry (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Hyphenation: mer‧ry

Etymology 1

From Middle English mery, merie, mirie, myrie, murie, murȝe, from Old English meriġe, miriġe, myriġe, myreġe, myrġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”). Doublet of brief.

Alternative forms

• merie, merrie, mery (obsolete)

Adjective

merry (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)

1. Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.

   We had a very merry Christmas.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     I am neuer merry when I heare ſweet muſique.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 281:

     I felt comforted by the song of the redbreast, and I thought I felt less lonely and deserted as long as I heard the merry notes of the thrush.

2. Festive and full of fun and laughter.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

     If I have the chance, I will make our worshipful Sheriff pay right well for that which he hath done to me. Maybe I may bring him some time into Sherwood Forest and have him to a right merry feast with us.

   Everyone was merry at the party.

3. Brisk

   The play moved along at a merry pace.

   The car moved at a merry clip.

4. Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.

   a merry jest

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 171:

     There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay, / Till mery wynd and weather call her thence away.

5. (euphemistic) drunk; tipsy

   Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.

Synonyms

• (jolly): cheerful, content, ecstatic, exultant, gay, happy, jovial, joyful, pleased; see also Thesaurus:happy
• (festive): convivial, gay, jovial
• (brisk): energetic, lively, spirited; see also Thesaurus:active
• (causing laughter): delightful, gladful
• (drunk): lushy, muzzy, squiffy; see also Thesaurus:drunk

Antonyms

• (jolly): miserable, unhappy

Derived terms

• be on one's merry way
• continue on one's merry way
• go on one's merry way
• like merry hell
• make merry
• Mary-marry-merry merger
• merrilymerriment
• merriness
• merry-andrew
• merry-go-around
• merry-go-down
• merry-go-round
• merry-go-sorry
• merry-go-whirl
• merry-maker
• merry-making
• merry as a cricket
• merry as a grig
• merry Christmas
• Merry Christmas
• merry cocker
• merry company
• merry dance
• merry dancers
• Merry Hill
• merrymaker
• merrymaking
• merry men
• merry widow
• play merry hell with

 

Related terms

• mirth

Translations

jolly and full of high-spirits

• Arabic: مَرِح‎ (mariḥ), فَرِح‎ (ar) (fariḥ)
• Belarusian: вясё́лы (be) (vjasjóly), ра́ды (rády)
• Bulgarian: весел (bg) (vesel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愉快 (zh) (yúkuài)

• Czech: veselý (cs)
• Dutch: vrolijk (nl)
• Faroese: kátur
• Finnish: hauska (fi)
• French: joyeux (fr)
• German: fröhlich (de), froh (de), gut gelaunt (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἱλαρός (hilarós)

• Hebrew: שמח‎ (he) m (saméah)
• Hungarian: vidám (hu)
• Ido: joyoza (io), joyala (io)
• Irish: sona
• Italian: allegro (it)
• Japanese: 陽気 (ja) (ようき, yōki)
• Korean: 즐거운 (ko) (jeulgeoun)
• Latin: laetus (la), gaudens, hilaris (la)
• Macedonian: весел (vesel)
• Middle English: mery
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: веселъ (veselŭ)

• Persian: شادکام‎ (fa) (šâdkâm), سرمست‎ (fa) (sarmast)
• Polish: wesoły (pl)
• Portuguese: alegre (pt)
• Romanian: fericit (ro) m
• Russian: весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj), ра́достный (ru) (rádostnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ве̏сео

  Roman: vȅseo (sh)

• Slovak: veselý
• Slovene: vesel (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjasoły

• Spanish: alegre (es)
• Swedish: munter (sv)
• Turkish: neşeli (tr), mutlu (tr)
• Ukrainian: весе́лий (vesélyj)
• Vietnamese: vui (vi)
• West Frisian: merie

festive and full of fun and laughter

• Bulgarian: весел (bg) (vesel)
• Finnish: hauska (fi)
• Hebrew: שמח‎ (he) m (saméah), עליז‎ (he) m (alíz)
• Latin: festus, festivus
• Middle English: mery, gameful
• Persian: شاد‎ (fa) (šâd)
• Portuguese: festivo (pt)
• Russian: весёлый (ru) m (vesjólyj)
• Spanish: festivo (es)

brisk

• Bulgarian: оживен (bg) (oživen)
• Hebrew: ערני‎ m (eraní), נמרץ‎ (he) m (nimráts)
• Middle English: mery
• Persian: تند‎ (fa) (tond)
• Russian: живо́й (ru) m (živój), оживлённый (ru) m (oživljónnyj), энерги́чный (ru) m (energíčnyj)

Etymology 2

French merise

Noun

merry (plural merries)

1. An English wild cherry.

Anagrams

• Rymer