Where does “ridiculous” come from?
Ridiculous comes from Latin ridiculus, derived from ridere meaning to laugh, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning prone to laughing.
ridiculous (English): Deserving of ridicule; foolish; absurd;...
Definitions
- Deserving of ridicule; foolish; absurd;...
Ancestry of “ridiculous”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | rīdiculus | (good, in the context of humor) laughable, funny, amusing, humorous |
| 2 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 3 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |