merry

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Happy and full of cheerful energy.

   We had a very merry Christmas together.

2. 2
   adj

   Full of fun and laughter; festive.

   Everyone was merry at the party.

3. 3
   adj

   Slightly drunk; tipsy.

   Some of us got a little merry at the office party.

From Middle English myrie, merie, mery, from Old English myrġe, myriġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgī (“short, slow, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”). Doublet of brief.

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