Standard Lemma guide

gelotology

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌd͡ʒɛləˈtɒləd͡ʒi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌd͡ʒɛləˈtɑləd͡ʒi/
  • rhymes with -ɒlədʒi

1

noun

Meaning 1

The study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, medicine, physiology, psychology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek γέλωτος (gélōtos) (the genitive of γέλως (gélōs, “laughter”)) + English -logy (suffix denoting the study of a particular subject), coined by the anthropologist and linguist Edith Trager with participation from the American psychiatrist William F. Fry, Jr. (1924–2014) in March 1964.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: gelotologji — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Catalan: gelotologia — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 笑理學 /笑理学 (xiàolǐxué) — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Finnish: gelotologia — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • French: gélotologie — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • German: Gelotologie — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Hebrew: גלוטולוגיה — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Italian: gelotologia — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Macedonian: смеотера́пија (smeoterápija) — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Portuguese: gelotologia — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Russian: смехотерапи́я (smexoterapíja) — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Slovene: gelotologija — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Spanish: gelotología — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Turkish: gelotoloji — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body
  • Ukrainian: сміхотерапія (smixoterapija) — study of humour and laughter, and its effects on the body