jovial
English
WOTD – 11 May 2008
Etymology
Borrowed from French jovial, from Italian gioviale, from Latin ioviālis, from Iovis (“Jove”), i.e. Jupiter, the planet which was thought by astrologers to bring jollity.
Pronunciation
Adjective
jovial (comparative more jovial, superlative most jovial)
- (obsolete) Pertaining to Jove or Zeus; Jovian.
- (obsolete) Pertaining to the planet Jupiter; Jovian.
- (astrology, obsolete) Under the influence of the planet Jupiter (considered a source of happiness).
- Merry; cheerful and good-humored.
- Antonym: saturnine
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- “[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
Translations
merry, cheerful
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Further reading
- jovial in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- jovial in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- jovial at OneLook Dictionary Search
French
Further reading
- “jovial” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /joˈviaːl/
Audio (file)
Norwegian Bokmål
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ju.vi.aːl/, [jʊ.ʋɪ.ˈaːl]
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ju.vi.aːl/, [jʊ.ʋɪ.ˈaːl]
Portuguese
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin ioviālis.
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin ioviālis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /xoˈbjal/, [xoˈβjal]
Derived terms
Further reading
- “jovial” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
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