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humour

noun
/ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/UK/ˈhjuːmɚ/US

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".

  1. derived from hūmor
  2. derived from humor
  3. inherited from humour

Definitions

  1. The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.

    • She has a great sense of humour, and I always laugh a lot whenever we get together.
    • The sensitive subject was treated with humour, but in such way that no one was offended.
    • "I gathered that you might not be altogether sorry to see me. So"—with a reassuring laugh—"here I am." A mild amusement at the possible humours of the situation characterised his manner.

  2. A mood, especially a bad mood

    A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.

    • He was in a particularly vile humour that afternoon.
    • I like not the humour of lying.
    • King James, as he was a Prince of great Judgment, ſo he was a Prince of a marvellous pleaſant humour; […]

  3. Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood,…

    Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.

    • A humour is a liquid or fluent part of the body, comprehended in it, for the preservation of it; and is either innate or born with us, or adventitious and acquisite.
    • The cause is a temperate conglutination ; for both bodies are clammy and viscous , and do bridle the deflux of humours to the hurts , without penning them in too much
    • For some days a fistula lacrymalis had come into my left eye, which discharged an humour, when pressed, that portended danger.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous…

      Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.

    2. Moist vapour, moisture.

    3. To pacify by indulging.

      • I know you don't believe my story, but humour me for a minute and imagine it to be true.

The neighborhood

Derived

dishumour, humoral, humorism, humorist, humorous, humourful, humourise, humourist, humourless, humourous, humoursome, outhumour, anti-humour, aqueous humour, bad humour, black humour, crystalline humour, dark humour, dry humour, gallows humour, glacial humour, good humour, ill humour, millennial humor, out of humour, sense of humour, toilet humour, vitreous humour

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at humour. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01humour02whim03steam04cloud05gloomy06melancholy07humours

A definitional loop anchored at humour. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at humour

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA