merry

See also: Merry and Merrý

English edit

Pronunciation edit

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

Etymology 1 edit

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-West Germanic *murgī, 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 edit

merie, merrie, mery (obsolete)

Adjective edit

merry (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)

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, translated by H.L. Brækstad, 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.
Festive and full of fun and laughter.
Everyone was merry at the party.
- 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.
Brisk
The play moved along at a merry pace.

The car moved at a merry clip.
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.
(euphemistic) drunk; tipsy
Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.

Synonyms edit

(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 edit

(antonym(s) of "jolly"): miserable, unhappy

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

mirth

Translations edit

jolly and full of high-spirits

Arabic: مَرِح (mariḥ), فَرِح (ar) (fariḥ)
Armenian: ուրախ (hy) (urax)
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)
Ottoman Turkish: سرخوش (sarhoş)
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), şen (tr), kutlu (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 (la)
Middle English: mery, gameful
Persian: شاد (fa) (šâd)
Portuguese: festivo (pt)
Russian: весёлый (ru) m (vesjólyj)
Spanish: festivo (es)
Turkish: şen (tr), kutlu (tr), neşeli (tr), mutlu (tr)

brisk

Bulgarian: оживен (bg) (oživen)
Finnish: reipas (fi), rivakka (fi)
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 edit

French merise

Noun edit

merry (plural merries)

An English wild cherry.

Anagrams edit

Rymer