mirth
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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
editmirth (usually uncountable, plural mirths)
- The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness
Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.
- 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
editTranslations
editmerriment
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Middle English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Old English myrgþ.
Noun
editmirth
- Alternative form of myrthe
Etymology 2
editDerived from myrthe (noun).
Verb
editmirth
- Alternative form of myrthen
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms suffixed with -th
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)θ
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)θ/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Happiness
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English verbs