zany

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   ludicrous, foolish, like a clown

   The entertainer was known for their zany antics.

2. 2
   noun

   a buffoon in one of the old comedies, or someone who is a stupid incompetent fool

   The zany is funny.

3. 3
   adj

   Unusual and awkward in a funny, comical manner; outlandish; clownish.

   And I will admit now but never then that, more than once, listening to the Viennese chattering their zany German on the pavements, or taking himself to one of the struggling small theatres that were cropping up in cellars and bombed houses...

4. 4
   noun

   A fool or clown, especially one whose business on the stage is to imitate foolishly the actions of the principal clown.

   Then write that I may follow, and so be / Thy echo, thy debtor, thy foil, thy zany.

5. 5
   adj

   Ludicrously or incongruously comical.

6. 6
   verb

   To mimic foolishly.

Etymology

From Middle French zani, zanni, from Italian zanni (“a kind of masked clown character”), from Zanni, a Venetan form of Giovanni. Doublet of Zanni, John, and Giovanni.