humour

Meaning

Noun

1. (UK, uncountable, usually) The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
2. (UK, uncountable, usually) A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.
3. (UK, archaic, historical, uncountable, usually) Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.
4. (UK, uncountable, usually) Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.
5. (UK, obsolete, uncountable, usually) Moist vapour, moisture.

Verb

To pacify by indulging.

Synonyms

humor

mood

humor

temper

wit

fun

spirits

witticism

pamper

jest

sense of humour

indulge

spirit

joke

🤣

flatter

cajole

cheer

disposition

wittiness

body fluid

bodily fluid

comedy

enjoyment

please

hilarity

joking

pleasure

amusement

liquid body substance

coax

sense of humor

funniness

temperament

pleasantry

resilience

ridicule

soothe

spoil

study

succus

render effeminate

trick

vein

wheedle

whim

wind

mental state

normal body fluid

bize

tend with care

Translations

humeur

humor

Humor

humour

humor

umorismo

humor

umore

Stimmung

χιούμορ

humeur

humor

humour

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: humour

In summary

From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the erroneous association with the word humus (“soil”).
The shift in meaning "liquid" > "mood" is attributed to the classical system of physiology, where human behaviour is regulated by four bodily humours (fluids). The sense "mood" gave rise to the verb sense "to give in to someone's mood or whim" and, by narrowing of meaning, the sense "wit".