joke

See also: Joke

English

Etymology

From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”) (cognates include French jeu and Italian gioco), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *iok-o- (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Breton iez (“language”) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jouer, Italian giocare, Portuguese jogar, and Spanish jugar.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /dʒəʊk/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dʒoʊk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊk

Noun

joke (plural jokes)

  1. An amusing story.
    • John Gay
      Or witty joke our airy senses moves / To pleasant laughter.
  2. Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness.
    It was a joke!
    • Alexander Pope
      Enclose whole downs in walls, 'tis all a joke.
  3. (figuratively) The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one
  4. (figuratively) A laughably worthless thing or person; a sham.
    Your effort at cleaning your room is a joke.
    The president was a joke.

Usage notes
  • Adjectives often applied to "joke": old, bad, inside, poor, silly, funny, lame, hilarious, stupid, offensive.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms
terms derived from joke (noun)

Descendants

Translations
amusing story

Verb

joke (third-person singular simple present jokes, present participle joking, simple past and past participle joked)

  1. (intransitive) To do or say something for amusement rather than seriously.
    I didn’t mean what I said — I was only joking.
  2. (intransitive, followed by with) To dupe in a friendly manner for amusement; to mess with, play with.
    Relax, man, I'm just joking with you.
  3. (transitive, dated) To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally.
    to joke a comrade

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English joke.

Noun

joke c (singular definite joken, plural indefinite jokes)

  1. joke

Declension
Declension of joke
common
gender		 Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative joke joken jokes jokesene
genitive jokes jokens jokes' jokesenes

Synonyms

French

Etymology

From English joke.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /dʒok/
  • (Quebec) IPA(key): /dʒoʊk/

Noun

joke f (plural jokes)

  1. (Louisiana, Quebec) joke
    • 2009, Robert Maltais, Le Curé du Mile End, page 195:
      Non, non, c'est juste une joke. Garde-lé, ton vingt piastres.
      No, no, that was a joke. Keep it, your twenty bucks.
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