English [ edit ]
Pronunciation [ edit ]
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 ]
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.
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
( 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 ]
Derived terms [ edit ]
Related terms [ edit ]
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
Etymology 2 [ edit ]
French merise
merry (plural merries )
An English wild cherry .
See also [ edit ]
Anagrams [ edit ]