joke

See also:Joke

English

Etymology

FromLatiniocus(“joke, jest,pastime”),fromProto-Italic*jokos(“word, (playful?) saying”),fromProto-Indo-European*yokos(“word, utterance”),from ultimate rootProto-Indo-European*yek-(“to speak, utter”)(of which distant cognates includeProto-Celtic*yextis(“language”)(Bretonyezh(“language”)andWelshiaith(“language”)) andGermanBeichte(“confession”)). Cognate withFrenchjeu,Italiangioco,Portuguesejogo,Spanishjuego,Romanianjoc,EnglishYule,DanishJule,Norwegian BokmålJul,SwedishJul,andNorwegian Nynorskjol.

Pronunciation

• (UK)IPA^(key):/d͡ʒəʊk/
• (US)IPA^(key):/d͡ʒoʊk/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-əʊk

Noun

joke(pluraljokes)

1. An amusing story.
   • 1708,John Gay,Wine:

     Or wittyjokeour airy senses moves / To pleasant laughter.

2. Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness.

   It was ajoke!

   • 1733–1737,Alexander Pope,[Imitations ofHorace],London:[…]R[obert]Dodsley[et al.]:
3. (figuratively)The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one
4. (figuratively)A laughablyworthlessthing or person; asham.

   Your effort at cleaning your room is ajoke.

   The president was ajoke.

   • 1943September and October, T. Lovatt Williams, “Some Reminiscences of the Footplate—II”, inRailway Magazine,page272:

     The other wheel on the tender of the L.N.W.R. engines operated the tender brake, and this was always rather ajoke.Sometimes it operated with good results and on other occasions it did not.

5. (figuratively)Something that is far easier or far less challenging than expected.

   The final exam was ajoke.

Synonyms

• See alsoThesaurus:joke

Coordinate terms

• comedy
• limerick
• parody
• pun

Derived terms

terms derived from joke (noun)

• all jokes aside
• anti-joke
• bad joke
• blonde joke
• brown joke
• dad joke
• dial-a-joke
• dirty joke
• fourth wall joke
• green joke
• half joke
• in-joke
• inside joke
• Irish joke
• joke book
• jokeful
• joke Joyce
• jokeless
• joke shop
• jokesome
• joke theft
• joke thief
• jokey
• jokish
• Kerryman joke
• knock knock joke
• knock-knock joke
• light bulb joke
• make a joke of
• Newfie joke
• no joke
• one joke
• practical joke
• private joke
• running joke
• standing joke
• take a joke
• the joke is on someone
• the jokes write themselves
• there's a grain of truth in every joke

Related terms

• jocular

Collocations

Collocations

Adjectives often applied to "joke": old, bad, inside, poor, silly, funny, lame, hilarious, stupid, offensive.

Descendants

• →Danish:joke
• →French:joke
• →Persian:جوک
• →Japanese:ジョーク,→Japanese:Nhũng câu
• →Welsh:jôc

Translations

amusing story

• Albanian:shaka(sq)f
• Arabic:طُرْفَةf(ṭurfa),نُكْتَةf(nukta),نَادِرَةf(nādira),لَطِيفَةf(laṭīfa)

  Egyptian Arabic:نكتةf(nukta)

  Gulf Arabic:نكتةf(nikta)

  Hijazi Arabic:نُكْتةf(nukta)

  Moroccan Arabic:نكتة(nukta)

  South Levantine Arabic:نكتة(nukte)

• Armenian:անեկդոտ(hy)(anekdot),կատակ(hy)(katak)
• Azerbaijani:lətifə(az)
• Basque:txiste
• Belarusian:жартm(žart),анекдо́тm(anjekdót),до́сціпm(dóscip)
• Bulgarian:шега́(bg)f(šegá),анекдо́т(bg)m(anekdót),виц(bg)m(vic)
• Carpathian Rusyn:фіґельm(figelʹ),анекдо́тm(anekdót),смішо́кm(smišók)
• Catalan:acudit(ca)m
• Chechen:забар(zabar),бегаш(begaš)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese:Chê cười／Chê cười(siu³waa^6-2)

  Hakka:Chê cười／Chê cười(seu-fa)

  Hokkien:Cười khôi／Cười khôi(zh-min-nan)(chhiò-khoe, chhiò-khe),Chê cười／Chê cười(zh-min-nan)(chhiò-ōe)

  Mandarin:Chê cười／Chê cười(zh)(xiàohua)

• Coptic:ⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛ̀ⲥⲱⲃⲓm(sači ǹsōbi)
• Corsican:macagnaf
• Czech:vtip(cs)m
• Danish:vittighed(da)c,vitsc,jokec
• Dutch:mop(nl)m,grap(nl)f,grol(nl)f
• Esperanto:ŝerco,amuzaĵo
• Estonian:nali,anekdoot
• Faroese:skemtisøgaf,krønikaf
• Finnish:vitsi(fi),pila(fi),(dated)kasku(fi),(slang)läppä(fi)
• French:plaisanterie(fr)f,blague(fr)f,joke(fr)f
• Georgian:ხუმრობა(xumroba),ანეკდოტი(aneḳdoṭi)
• German:Witz(de)m
• Greek:ανέκδοτο(el)n(anékdoto)

  Ancient:σκῶμμαn(skômma),χλεύηf(khleúē)

• Guaraní:pukarã
• Hebrew:בְּדִיחָה(he)f(b'dikhá)
• Hindi:चुटकुला(hi)m(cuṭkulā),लतीफ़ाm(latīfā)
• Hungarian:vicc(hu)
• Icelandic:brandari(is)m
• Indonesian:candaan
• Ingrian:nalja,šuutka
• Italian:barzelletta(it)f,battuta(it)f,scherzo(it)m,celia(it)f
• Japanese:Nhũng nói(ja)(じょうだん, jōdan)
• Khmer:ហាសវត្ថុ(haasaʼvŏətthoʼ)
• Korean:농담( lộng nói )(ko)(nongdam),롱담( lộng nói )(ko)(rongdam)(North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:نوکتە(nukte)

  Northern Kurdish:henek(ku)

• Kyrgyz:тамаша(ky)(tamaşa)
• Latin:iocus(la)m,nūgaefpl
• Latvian:joks(lv)m
• Macedonian:шегаf(šega)
• Malay:jenaka(ms),seloroh
• Malayalam:തമാശ(ml)(tamāśa)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic:онигоо(mn)(onigoo)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:vits(no)m

  Nynorsk:vitsm

• Oromo:qoosaa
• Ottoman Turkish:شقا(şaka),اویون(oyun),لطیفه(latife)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian:لَطیفِه(phát)(latife),جوک(phát)(jok),شوخی(phát)(šuxi),مِزاح(phát)(mezâh)

• Plautdietsch:Sposn
• Polish:dowcip(pl)m,kawał(pl),żart(pl)
• Portuguese:piada(pt)f
• Romani:

  Balkan Romani:pherǎs

• Romanian:banc(ro)n,glumă(ro)f,șagă(ro)f
• Russian:анекдо́т(ru)m(anekdót),шу́тка(ru)f(šútka)
• Scottish Gaelic:fealla-dhàm
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:ша́лаf

  Roman:šála(sh)f

• Slovak:vtipm
• Slovene:šala(sl)f
• Spanish:broma(es)f,chiste(es)m,chascarrillo(es)
• Swahili:kasheshe(sw)
• Swedish:rolig historia(sv)c,vits(sv)c,skämt(sv)n
• Tagalog:biro
• Tajik:аския(askiya),латифа(tg)(latifa)
• Thai:มุก(th)(múk)
• Tibetan:ཀྱལ(kyal)
• Turkish:fıkra(tr)
• Turkmen:degişme
• Ukrainian:жартm(žart),до́теп(uk)m(dótep),анекдо́т(uk)m(anekdót)
• Urdu:لَطِیفَہm(latīfa)
• Uyghur:لەتىپە(letipe),شاڭخو(shangxo)
• Uzbek:latifa(uz)
• Vietnamese:chuyệntiếu lâm
• Waray-Waray:ti-aw
• Welsh:jôc(cy)f
• Yiddish:וויץm(vits)

something said or done for amusement

• Albanian:shaka(sq)f,mbrrakulli
• Arabic:نُكْتَةf(nukta),هَزْلm(hazl)
• Armenian:կատակ(hy)(katak)
• Azerbaijani:zarafat(az)
• Basque:txantxa
• Belarusian:жартm(žart)
• Bengali:প্রহসন(bn)(prohośon),রসিকতা(bn)(rośikota)
• Bulgarian:шега́(bg)f(šegá)
• Burmese:အသော(my)(a.sau:)
• Catalan:broma(ca)f
• Chechen:бегаш(begaš),забар(zabar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Vui đùa(zh)(wánxiào)

• Coptic:ⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛ̀ⲥⲱⲃⲓm(sači ǹsōbi)
• Corsican:macagnaf
• Czech:vtip(cs)m,vtípek(cs)m,žert(cs)m,žertíkm
• Danish:spøg(da)c
• Dutch:mop(nl)m,grap(nl)f,geintje(nl)n,lol(nl)f
• Esperanto:amuzaĵo
• Estonian:nali
• Faroese:skemt
• Finnish:pila(fi),kuje(fi),kepponen(fi),vitsi(fi),kasku(fi),sutkaus
• French:plaisanterie(fr)f,blague(fr)f
• Georgian:ხუმრობა(xumroba)
• German:Scherz(de)m,Streich(de)m,Witz(de)m,Spaß(de)m
• Greek:αστείο(el)n(asteío)

  Ancient:σκῶμμαn(skômma),χλεύηf(khleúē)

• Hebrew:בְּדִיחָה(he)f(b'dikhá)
• Hindi:मज़ाक़m(mazāq),चुटकुला(hi)m(cuṭkulā),लतीफ़ाm(latīfā)
• Hungarian:tréfa(hu)
• Icelandic:grín(is)n,spaugn
• Indonesian:lelucon(id),lawak(id)
• Interlingua:burla
• Irish:cleasm
• Italian:battuta(it)f,scherzo(it)m,celia(it)f
• Japanese:Nhũng nói(ja)(じょうだん, jōdan),ジョーク(ja)(jōku)
• Kabuverdianu:txakóta,txokóta
• Kazakh:әзіл(äzıl),қалжың(qaljyñ),ажуа(ajua),ойын(oiyn)
• Khmer:ពាក្យនិយាយលេង(piək niyiəy leing),ល្បែងលេងសើច(lbaeng leing saəc)
• Korean:농담( lộng nói )(ko)(nongdam),롱담( lộng nói )(ko)(rongdam)(North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:گاڵتە(ckb)(gallte)

  Northern Kurdish:henek(ku),galte(ku)

• Kyrgyz:тамаша(ky)(tamaşa),азил(ky)(azil)
• Lao:ເລື່ອງຕະຫຼົກ(lư̄ang ta lok)
• Latin:iocus(la)m,facetiaf
• Latvian:joks(lv)m
• Lithuanian:juõkas(lt)m,pókštas(lt)m
• Macedonian:шегаf(šega)
• Malay:lawak(ms)
• Malayalam:തമാശ(ml)(tamāśa)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic:хошигнол(mn)(xošignol)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:spøk(no)m

  Nynorsk:spøkm

• Ottoman Turkish:شقا(şaka),اویون(oyun),لطیفه(latife)
• Pannonian Rusyn:франтаf(franta),жартаf(žarta)
• Pashto:ټوکه(ps)f(ṭoka),انک(ps)m(anák)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian:شوخی(phát)(šuxi),مِزاح(phát)(mezâh),هَزْل(phát)(hazl)

• Polish:dowcip(pl)m,żart(pl)m,kawał(pl)m
• Portuguese:brincadeira(pt)f
• Romani:

  Balkan Romani:pherǎs

• Romanian:glumă(ro)
• Russian:шу́тка(ru)f(šútka),остро́та(ru)f(ostróta)
• Sanskrit:विनोदकणिकाf(vinodakaṇikā),उपहासगिर्(sa)f(upahāsagir),अभिहास(sa)m(abhihāsa)
• Scottish Gaelic:cleasm,fealla-dhàm
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:ша́лаf

  Roman:šála(sh)f

• Slovak:vtipm,žartm
• Slovene:šala(sl)f
• Spanish:broma(es)f,cuchufleta(es),faceciaf
• Swahili:kasheshe(sw),mzaha(sw)
• Swedish:skämt(sv)n
• Tagalog:biro
• Tajik:шӯхӣ(šüxi),ҳазл(hazl),мазоҳ(mazoh)
• Thai:มุก(th)(múk),เรื่องตลก(rʉ̂ʉang-dtà-lòk)
• Tibetan:བསྟན་ཤིག་སློང(bstan shig slong)
• Turkish:şaka(tr),latife(tr)
• Turkmen:oýun
• Ukrainian:жартm(žart)
• Urdu:مَذاقm(mazāq),لَطِیفَہm(latīfa),ہَزْلm(hazl)
• Uyghur:چاقچاق(chaqchaq),مايداڭ(maydang),ھەزىل(hezil)
• Uzbek:xazil(uz)
• Vietnamese:đùa(vi),lời nói đùa,câu nói đùa
• Volapük:cog(vo),(diminutive)cogil
• Yiddish:וויץm(vits),שפּאַסm(shpas)

the root issue

• Azerbaijani:məzə
• Hungarian:vicc(hu)
• Polish:dowcip(pl)m

worthless thing or person

• Czech:šašek(cs)m,klaunm
• Dutch:grap(nl)f,aanfluiting(nl)f
• French:raté(fr)m,ratée(fr)f
• Georgian:დასაცინი(dasacini),სასაცილო(sasacilo),მასხარა(ka)(masxara)
• German:Witz(de)m
• Hungarian:vicc(hu)
• Icelandic:brandari(is)m
• Italian:burla(it)f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:گاڵتە(ckb)(gallte)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:vits(no)m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian:مَسْخَرِه(phát)(masxare),شوت(phát)(šut)(person)

• Polish:żart(pl)m
• Portuguese:piada(pt)f
• Romani:

  Balkan Romani:devruś

• Romanian:glumă(ro)
• Russian:(person)кло́ун(ru)m(klóun),(person)шут(ru)m(šut),посме́шище(ru)n(posméšišče)
• Spanish:tomadura de pelo(es)f
• Swedish:skämt(sv)n
• Tagalog:gago(tl)(derogatory),gaguhan,panggagago

Verb

joke(third-person singular simple presentjokes,present participlejoking,simple past and past participlejoked)

1. (intransitive)To do or say something for amusement rather than seriously.

   I didn’t mean what I said — I was onlyjoking.

2. (intransitive,followed bywith)Todupein afriendlymanner for amusement; tomess with,play with.

   Relax, man, I'm justjoking withyou.

3. (transitive,dated)To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally.

   tojokea comrade

   • 1848November –1850December,William Makepeace Thackeray,chapter 21, inThe History of Pendennis.[…],volume(please specify |volume=I or II),London:Bradbury and Evans,[…],published1849–1850,→OCLC:

     He made more than one visit to Oxbridge, where the young fellows were amused by entertaining the old gentleman, and gave parties and breakfasts and fêtes, partly tojokehim and partly to do him honour.

Derived terms

• joke around
• joke it up
• joke up
• joking relationship

Related terms

• joker

Translations

do for amusement

• Afrikaans:grap
• Arabic:مَزَحَ(mazaḥa)

  Hijazi Arabic:مزح(mazaḥ),نَكَّت(nakkat)

• Armenian:կատակել(hy)(katakel),զվարճախոսել(hy)(zvarčaxosel)
• Azerbaijani:zarafat etmək
• Belarusian:жартава́цьimpf(žartavácʹ)
• Bulgarian:шегувам се(šeguvam se)
• Burmese:ရွှတ်(my)(hrwat)
• Cherokee:ᎦᏪᏟᎭ(gawetliha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Nói giỡn／Nói giỡn(zh)(kāi wánxiào)

• Czech:žertovat(cs)
• Danish:spøge
• Dutch:grappen(nl),grappenmaken
• Esperanto:ŝerci
• Estonian:naljatama
• Faroese:skemta
• Finnish:vitsailla(fi),pilailla(fi)
• French:plaisanter(fr),blaguer(fr)
• Georgian:ხუმრობა(xumroba),ოხუნჯობა(oxunǯoba),ლაზღანდარობა(lazɣandaroba)
• German:scherzen(de),Witzemachen,Spaßmachen,witzeln(de)
• Greek:ατειεύομαι(ateiévomai)

  Ancient:σκώπτω(skṓptō)

• Hebrew:התלוצץ(he)(hitlotséts),התבדח(hitbadéakh)
• Hungarian:tréfál(hu),viccel(hu)
• Icelandic:grínast,spauga(is)
• Ingrian:šuutkia
• Italian:scherzare(it)
• Japanese:Nhũng nóiをNgôn う(じょうだんをいう, jōdan o iu),Lãnh やかす(ja)(ひやかす, hiyakasu),Vu Sơn hí る(ja)(ふざける, fuzakeru)
• Korean:농담하다(ko)(nongdamhada),롱담하다(rongdamhada)(North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:گالتە کردن(galte kirdin)

• Kyrgyz:тамашалоо(ky)(tamaşaloo),калжың кылуу(ky)(kaljıŋ kıluu)
• Latin:iocor(la),ioculor(la)
• Latvian:jokot
• Neapolitan:pazzià
• Norwegian:tulle(no),tulle bort,kødde
• Old English:gamenian
• Ottoman Turkish:لطیفه ایتمك(latife etmek)
• Polish:żartować(pl)
• Portuguese:gracejar(pt),contar piada,brincar(pt)m
• Romani:

  Balkan Romani:kerel pherǎs, asavel,marel pherǎs,marel muj

• Romanian:glumi(ro)
• Russian:шути́ть(ru)impf(šutítʹ),пошути́ть(ru)pf(pošutítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:шалити сеimpf

  Roman:šaliti se(sh)impf

• Sicilian:babbiàri
• Slovak:žartovaťimpf
• Slovene:šaliti seimpf,hecati seimpf
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian:žortować(hsb)impf

• Spanish:bromear(es)
• Swedish:skämta(sv),skoja(sv)
• Tagalog:biro
• Turkish:şaka yapmak(tr)
• Ukrainian:жартува́ти(uk)impf(žartuváty)
• Vietnamese:nói đùa(vi)
• Volapük:cogön(vo)

See also

• jeer
• mock

Anagrams

• ojek

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed fromEnglishjoke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[ˈd̥jɔwɡ̊]

Noun

jokec(singular definitejoken,plural indefinitejokes)

1. joke

Declension

Declension ofjoke

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	joke	joken	jokes	jokesene (unofficial)jokene
genitive	jokes	jokens	jokes'	jokesenes (unofficial)jokenes

Synonyms

• spøg
• vits
• vittighed

Etymology 2

Borrowed fromEnglishjoke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[ˈd̥jɔwɡ̊ə],(imperative)IPA^(key):[ˈd̥jɔwˀɡ̊]

Verb

joke(past tensejokede,past participlejoket)

1. joke

Conjugation

Inflection ofjoke

	present	past
simple	joker	jokede
perfect	harjoket	havdejoket
passive	jokes	jokedes
participle	jokende	joket
imperative	joke	—
infinitive	joke	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	joken	—

Synonyms

• spøge

French

Etymology

FromEnglishjoke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/dʒok/
• (Quebec)IPA^(key):/dʒoʊk/

• Audio(Canada):

  (file)

Noun

jokef(pluraljokes)

1. (North America)joke
   • 2009,Robert Maltais,Le Curé du Mile End,page195:

     Non, non, c’est juste unejoke.Garde-lé, ton vingt piastres.

     No, no, that was ajoke.Keep it, your twenty bucks.

Derived terms

• faire une joke