Standard Lemma guide

mirth

noun · 3 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.

  • General-American: /mɜɹθ/
  • General-American: [mɝθ]
  • General-American: mûrth
  • Received-Pronunciation: /mɜːθ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)θ
  • CMU ARPABET: M ER1 TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: merriment, delight, glee, hilarity, jollity, gaiety, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delightedness, elatedness, elation, exuberance, exuberantness, felicity, gayness, gayfulness, gladness, gladsomeness, gleefulness, gleesomeness, happiness, high spirits, jolliness, joviality, jovialness, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, liss, merriness, mirth, mirthfulness, pleasedness

Antonyms: sadness, gloom, mirthless, blueness, tristesse, blues, crestfallenness, dejection, depression, despondency, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness, drearihead, forlornness, grief, heartsore, ill-being, infelicity, melancholia, melancholy, misery, mishappiness, mourn, prosternation, regret, rue, ruth, sorrow, sorrowfulness, tristfulness, undelight, unhappiness, woe, woefare, wretchedness

2

noun

Meaning 2

That which causes merriment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

great merriment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hilarity, mirthfulness, glee, gleefulness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gaiety, merriment

History

Etymology

From Middle English merth, myrthe, murhthe, from Old English myrġþ (“mirth, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgiþu (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to merry + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch merchte (“pleasure, joy, delight”).

Across languages

Translations

50 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: веселие (veselie) — merriment
  • Bulgarian: радост (radost) — merriment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 歡笑 /欢笑 (huānxiào) — merriment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 愉快 (yúkuài) — merriment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 高興 /高兴 (gāoxìng) — merriment
  • Czech: veselí — merriment
  • Danish: munterhed — merriment
  • Danish: fryd — merriment
  • Danish: glæde — merriment
  • Dutch: vrolijkheid — merriment
  • Esperanto: gajeco — merriment
  • Finnish: ilo — merriment
  • Finnish: hilpeys — merriment
  • French: gaieté — merriment
  • Georgian: მხიარულება (mxiaruleba) — merriment
  • Georgian: სიმხიარულე (simxiarule) — merriment
  • Georgian: სიხარული (sixaruli) — merriment
  • German: Fröhlichkeit — merriment
  • German: Belustigung — merriment
  • German: Freude — merriment
  • Greek: ευθυμία (efthymía) — merriment
  • Greek: κέφι (kéfi) — merriment
  • Ancient Greek: εὐφροσύνη (euphrosúnē) — merriment
  • Hebrew: צהלול — merriment
  • Italian: gioia — merriment
  • Italian: allegria — merriment
  • Japanese: 笑い (warai) — merriment
  • Japanese: 遊び (asobi) — merriment
  • Japanese: 喜び (yorokobi) — merriment
  • Japanese: 歓楽 (kanraku) — merriment
  • Malayalam: ആഹ്ലാദം (āhlādaṁ) — merriment
  • Plautdietsch: Freid — merriment
  • Portuguese: alegria — merriment
  • Portuguese: júbilo — merriment
  • Russian: ра́дость (rádostʹ) — merriment
  • Russian: весе́лье (vesélʹje) — merriment
  • Scottish Gaelic: sogan — merriment
  • Spanish: felicidad — merriment
  • Spanish: alegría — merriment
  • Spanish: júbilo — merriment
  • Swedish: munterhet — merriment
  • Swedish: glädje — merriment
  • Tagalog: kasayahan — merriment
  • Tagalog: katuwaan — merriment
  • Tagalog: kaligayahan — merriment
  • Ukrainian: веселощі (veselošči) — merriment
  • Ukrainian: радість (radistʹ) — merriment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 逗樂物 /逗乐物 — that which causes merriment
  • Finnish: ilo — that which causes merriment
  • Finnish: ilonaihe — that which causes merriment