Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “joyous” come from?

Joyous comes from Old French joieus, formed with the suffix -eus from Latin iocus meaning "jest" or "joke," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European yek-.

joyous (English): Full of joy; happy

Definitions

  1. Full of joy; happy

Ancestry of “joyous”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchjoieusjoyous; overjoyed
2Old Frenchjoiejoy; Alternative form of jouel
3Latingaudianominative plural of gaudium; accusative plural...
4Latingaudiumjoy, delight
5Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
6Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
7Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
8Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “joyous”

  • joyously
  • joyousness
  • unjoyous
  • unjoyously
  • overjoyous
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →