comedy

English

Alternative forms

comedie (archaic, often affected as such for humorous effect)
comœdie (obsolete)
comœdy (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English comedie, from Middle French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeídō, “I sing”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmədi/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmədi/
Audio (US) (file)
Hyphenation: com‧e‧dy

Noun

comedy (countable and uncountable, plural comedies)

(countable, historical) A choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece.
(countable) A light, amusing play with a happy ending.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is among Shakespeare's most famous comedies.
(countable, Medieval Europe) A narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy).
(countable, drama) A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone.
(drama) The genre of such works.
(uncountable) Entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance.
Why would you be watching comedy when there are kids starving right now?
The art of composing comedy.
(countable) A humorous event.

Antonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

drama
tragedy

Derived terms

comedian
comedic
comedically

Expressions with this term at the beginning

comedy duo
comedy equals tragedy plus time
comedy gold
comedy of errors
comedy of manners

Expressions with this term at the end

black comedy
cringe comedy
improvisational comedy
observational comedy
physical comedy
prop comedy
romantic comedy
screwball comedy
sex comedy
situation comedy, sitcom (or sit-com)
stand-up comedy

Related terms

comic

Translations

a choric song of celebration or revel

Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
French: comédie (fr) f
Galician: comedia f
Latvian: komēdija f
Polish: komedia (pl)
Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
Romanian: comedie (ro) f
Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f

a light, amusing play with a happy ending

Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f (komedija)
Dutch: blijspel (nl) n
Galician: comedia f
Greek:
Ancient: κωμῳδία f (kōmōidía)
Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
Irish: coiméide f
Latin: comoedia f
Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
Polish: komedia (pl) m
Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
Ukrainian: коме́дія f (komédija)

(medieval Europe) a narrative poem with an agreeable ending

Galician: comedia f
Polish: komedia (pl) f
Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f

dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone

Arabic: كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmīdiyā), كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmēdiyā)
Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: komediya
Belarusian: каме́дыя f (kamjédyja)
Bulgarian: коме́дия (bg) f (komédija)
Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 喜劇／喜剧 (zh) (xǐjù)
Crimean Tatar: komediya
Czech: komedie (cs) f, veselohra (cs) f
Danish: komedie (da) c
Dutch: komedie (nl) f, blijspel (nl) n
Estonian: komöödia
Finnish: komedia (fi)
French: comédie (fr) f
Galician: comedia f
Georgian: კომედია (ḳomedia)
German: Komödie (de) f
Greek: κωμωδία (el) f (komodía)
Ancient: κωμῳδία f (kōmōidía)
Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
Hungarian: vígjáték (hu), komédia (hu)
Icelandic: gamanleikrit n
Ido: komedio (io)
Indonesian: lawak (id), humor (id)
Irish: coiméide f
Italian: commedia (it) f
Japanese: 喜劇 (ja) (きげき, kigeki), コメディ (komedi)
Kashubian: kòmédiô f
Kazakh: комедия (kk) (komediä)
Korean: 코미디 (ko) (komidi), 희극 (ko) (huigeuk)
Kyrgyz: комедия (komediya)
Latin: cōmoedia f
Latvian: komēdija f
Lithuanian: komedija f, juokažaislė f
Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: komedie (no) m
Nynorsk: komedie m
Occitan: comedia (oc) f
Ossetian: комеди (komedi)
Persian: کمدی‎ (fa) (komedi)
Polish: komedia (pl) f
Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
Romanian: comedie (ro) f
Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
Spanish: comedia (es) f
Sundanese: bodor
Swedish: komedi (sv)
Tagalog: katawanan
Tajik: мазҳака (tg) (mazhaka)
Tatar: комедия (qomediya)
Turkish: komedi (tr)
Ukrainian: коме́дія f (komédija)
Vietnamese: hài kịch (vi)
Volapük: fredadramat (vo)
Yiddish: קאָמעדיע‎ f (komedye)

the genre of such works

Arabic: كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmīdiyā), كُومِيدِيَا‎ f (kōmēdiyā)
Armenian: կատակերգություն (hy) (katakergutʿyun)
Bulgarian: коме́дия (bg) f (komédija)
Catalan: comèdia (ca) f
Finnish: komiikka (fi)
Galician: comedia f
Hebrew: קומדיה‎ (he) f (qomedia)
Icelandic: kómedía f, gamanleikur (is) m
Indonesian: komedi (id)
Irish: coiméide f
Malayalam: തമാശ (ml) (tamāśa)
Persian: کمدی‎ (fa) (komedi)
Portuguese: comédia (pt) f
Russian: коме́дия (ru) f (komédija)
Serbo-Croatian: kòmēdija (sh) f
Spanish: comedia (es) f
Sundanese: bodor

References

comedy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
comedy at OneLook Dictionary Search