mirth

English

Etymology

Old English myrġþ, approximately equivalent to merry +‎ -th.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /mɝθ/; enPR: mûrth
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɜːθ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ

Noun

mirth (plural mirths)

1. The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, The Mirror and the Lamp^[1]:

     She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

2. That which causes merriment.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses

     Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.

Synonyms

• (emotion): delight, glee, hilarity, jollity

Antonyms

• (emotion): sadness, gloom

Derived terms

• mirthful
• mirthfulness
• mirthless
• mirthlessly
• mirthlessness

Translations

merriment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 歡笑 (zh), 欢笑 (zh) (huānxiào), 愉快 (zh) (yúkuài), 高興 (zh), 高兴 (zh) (gāoxìng)

• Dutch: vrolijkheid (nl)
• Finnish: ilo (fi), hilpeys
• French: gaieté (fr)
• German: Fröhlichkeit (de) f, Belustigung (de) f, Freude (de) f

• Italian: gioia (it) f
• Japanese: 笑い (わらい, warai) (laugh), 遊び (ja) (あそび, asobi) (play), 喜び (よろこび, yorokobi) (joy)
• Russian: ра́дость (ru) f (rádostʹ), весе́лье (ru) n (vesélʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: sogan m
• Spanish: felicidad (es) f, alegría (es) f, júbilo (es)
• Swedish: munterhet (sv) c, glädje (sv) c