mirth
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English merth, myrthe, murhthe, from Old English mergþ, mirgþ, myrgþ (“mirth, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgiþu (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to merry + -th. Cognate with Middle Dutch merchte (“pleasure, joy, delight”).
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /mɜɹθ/, [mɝθ]; enPR: mûrth
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɜːθ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ
Noun edit
mirth (usually uncountable, plural mirths)
- The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- 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[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl::
- That which causes merriment.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
merriment
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Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Old English myrgþ.
Noun edit
mirth
- Alternative form of myrthe
Etymology 2 edit
Derived from myrthe (noun).
Verb edit
mirth
- Alternative form of myrthen