cheerful

English

Alternative forms

• cheerfull (archaic)
• chearful (archaic or dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English chereful, cherful, equivalent to cheer +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪɹfəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɪɹfʊl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪə(ɹ)fəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɪə(ɹ)fʊl/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cheer‧ful
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl, -ɪə(ɹ)fəl

Adjective

cheerful (comparative more cheerful or cheerfuler or cheerfuller, superlative most cheerful or cheerfulest or cheerfullest)

1. Noticeably happy and optimistic.

   Synonyms: cheery, bright, bubbly, cheerly, ebullient, happy, joyful, merry, optimistic, vivacious; see also Thesaurus:happy

   Antonyms: depressed, gloomy, miserable, sad

   • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, chapter II, in Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I, page 32:

     Ever in cheerfullest mood art thou, when others are filled with
     Gloomy forebodings of illl, and see only ruin before them.

   • 1913, W[illiam] D[ean] Howells, chapter XXIII, in New Leaf Mills: A Chronicle, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 150:

     He moped, she felt, as the time went by, and he was cheerfuler only when some letter, full of hope without expectation, came from Dick.

   • 1935 July 2, W. E. Farbstein, “Marginal Notes”, in Washington Herald, volume XIII, number 219, Washington, D.C.: American Newspapers, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15, column 7:

     The Eskimo is a nobler, cheerfuller and easy-goinger person than we smug civilized citizens have always imagined. Rockwell Kent, the noted Eskimophile, claims they are a polite and happy race.

2. Bright and pleasant.

   They enjoyed a cheerful room.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

Derived terms

• cheap and cheerful
• cheerfulize
• cheerfully
• cheerfulness
• cheerfulsome
• overcheerful
• uncheerful

Translations

happy

• Arabic: مَسْرُور (ar) (masrūr), فَرِح (ar) (fariḥ)

  Egyptian Arabic: مبصوط (mabṣūṭ), سعيد (saʕīd)

• Armenian: ցնծալից (hy) (cʻncalicʻ)
• Azerbaijani: şən (az)
• Bikol Central: magaya-gaya (bcl)
• Bulgarian: бодър (bg) (bodǎr), весел (bg) (vesel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 快樂 / 快乐 (zh) (kuàilè), 愉快 (zh) (yúkuài)

• Crimean Tatar: şeñ
• Czech: radostný (cs), šťastný (cs)
• Danish: fornøjet, munter
• Dutch: blijmoedig (nl), tevreden (nl)
• Esperanto: gaja (eo)
• Finnish: hilpeä (fi), iloinen (fi)
• French: joyeux (fr), content (fr), de bonne humeur
• Galician: animado (gl), alegre (gl)
• Georgian: ხალისიანი (xalisiani), მხიარული (mxiaruli)
• German: fröhlich (de), vergnügt (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἱλαρός (hilarós)

• Irish: grianmhar, misniúil, spéiriúil, muirneach
• Italian: allegro (it), felice (it), gioioso (it)
• Japanese: 楽しげな (たのしげな, tanoshige na), 陽気な (ja) (ようきな, yōki na), 嬉しい (ja) (うれしい, ureshii)
• Korean: 기쁘다 (ko) (gippeuda)
• Latin: laetus (la), gaudens, hilaris (la)
• Latvian: jautrs
• Macedonian: весел (vesel)
• Maori: hurō, hihiko, manahau, harikoa, takaahuareka
• Middle English: blisful
• Norman: rêjoui
• Ottoman Turkish: سرخوش (sarhoş)
• Plautdietsch: froo, freelich, schaftich
• Portuguese: alegre (pt)
• Russian: весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj)
• Sanskrit: रंसु (sa) (raṃsu)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: cuntèntu, allirgu

  Logudorese: uffànu, cuntèntu, allègru

• Sassarese: cuntèntu, allègru
• Spanish: animado (es), alegre (es)
• Swahili: -kunjufu
• Swedish: uppsluppen (sv), levnadsglad (sv), munter (sv)
• Tagalog: masayahin
• Thai: ร่าเริง (th) (râa-rəəng)
• Ukrainian: весе́лий (vesélyj)
• Vietnamese: vui vẻ (vi)

bright

• Bulgarian: приятен (bg) (prijaten), ободрителен (bg) (obodritelen)
• Danish: lys (da), venlig
• Finnish: hilpeä (fi), iloinen (fi)
• Georgian: ნათელი (nateli)
• German: freundlich (de)
• Italian: allegro (it), luminoso (it)
• Portuguese: animado (pt)
• Tagalog: masaya