humour

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
  2. noun a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
  3. noun (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state

Etymology

From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the erroneous association with the word humus (“soil”). The shift in meaning "liquid" > "mood" is attributed to the classical system of physiology, where human behaviour is regulated by four bodily humours (fluids). The sense "mood" gave rise to the verb sense "to give in to someone's mood or whim" and, by narrowing of meaning, the sense "wit".

In classic literature

Synonyms

temper, mood, humor

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