Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “humour” come from?

Humour comes from French humeur, from Latin umor meaning moisture or liquid, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots related to flowing and earth.

humour (English): The quality of being amusing, comical, funny; A...

Definitions

  1. The quality of being amusing, comical, funny; A...

Ancestry of “humour”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishhumourA "cardinal humour"; A bodily liquid or substance...
2Old Frenchhumorhumor
3Latinhumorliquid, fluid, humour; first-person singular...
4Latinumorliquid, fluid, humour; moisture
5Latin-orused to form a third-declension masculine...
6Proto-Italic-ōsCreates masculine action nouns or result nouns...
7Proto-Indo-European-ōsCreates masculine and feminine action nouns or...
8Proto-Indo-European-oss—
9Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

Words derived from “humour”

  • humourist
  • humourous
  • humourless
  • humourously
  • humoursome
  • humorsome
  • humourlessly
  • humoursomeness
  • humourousness
  • unhumourous
  • dishumour
  • humourful
  • humoursomely
  • outhumour
  • humourise
  • humorsomely
  • humorsomeness
  • humour
  • юмор
  • humour
  • ユーモア
  • χιούμορ
  • 유머
  • humuro
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →