joke

A2 Topic:Entertainment & Leisure

US /d͡ʒoʊk/ UK /d͡ʒəʊk/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like jock /ɑ/ vs /oʊ/

Freq #1018

Meanings

1

noun
Something said or done to make people laugh.

He told a funny joke at dinner.
2

verb
To say funny things, or to say something not seriously.

Don't worry, I was only joking.
3

noun
A person or thing that is too bad to be taken seriously.

Their security system is a joke.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · something said or done to... jest

2 verb · to say funny things, or to... jest

Word family

Forms jokedjokesjoking

Derived forms anti-jokeantijokedial-a-jokein-jokejokeejokefestjokeficjokefuljokelessjokeletjokelikejokely

Related forms fun jeer jester jocular joker laugh laughingstock mock ridicule witty

From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic *yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.

*yek- Proto-Indo-European *jokos Proto-Italic *yokos Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Entertainment & Leisure

External links

# joke

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /d͡ʒoʊk/
**IPA (UK):** /d͡ʒəʊk/
**Frequency rank:** 1018

## Meanings
1. Something said or done to make people laugh.
2. To say funny things, or to say something not seriously.
3. A person or thing that is too bad to be taken seriously.

## Examples
- He told a funny joke at dinner.
- Don't worry, I was only joking.
- Their security system is a joke.

## Derived Forms
- anti-joke
- antijoke
- dial-a-joke
- in-joke
- jokee
- jokefest
- jokefic
- jokeful
- jokeless
- jokelet
- jokelike
- jokely

## Related Forms
- fun
- jeer
- jester
- jocular
- joker
- laugh
- laughingstock
- mock
- ridicule
- witty

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *yek-
- Root: *jokos
- Root: *yokos

## Etymology
From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic *yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.

## AI Etymology
Joke comes from Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic *yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.

## Topics
- Entertainment & Leisure

markdown

joke

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback