different between clown vs joker

English

Alternative forms

• clowne, cloyne (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier clowne, cloyne (“man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant”), likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Icelandic klunni (“clumsy fellow, klutz”). Compare also North Frisian klönne (“clumsy fellow, klutz”), Dutch kluns (“clumsy fellow”). Unlikely from Latin col?nus (“colonist, farmer”), although learned awareness of this term may have influenced semantic development.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kloun, IPA^(key): /kla?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n

Noun

clown (plural clowns)

1. A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig.
   • 2008, Lich King, "Black Metal Sucks", Toxic Zombie Onslaught.

2. A person who acts in a silly fashion.
3. A stupid person.
4. (obsolete) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.
   • 1700, Timothy Nourse, Campania Foelix, pp. 15–16

     […] three things ought always to be kept under: a mastiff dog, a stone horse and a clown; and really I think a snarling, cross-grained clown to be the most unlucky beast of three.

5. (obsolete) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.

   • The clown, the child of nature, without guile.

   • August 25, 1759, Samuel Johnson, The Idler No. 71

     He […] began to descend to familiar questions, endeavouring to accommodate his discourse to the grossness of rustic understandings. The clowns soon found that he did not know wheat from rye, and began to despise him; one of the boys, by pretending to show him a bird's nest, decoyed him into a ditch; […]

Synonyms

• (person who acts in a silly fashion): buffoon, fool

Derived terms

• clown beetle
• class clown
• clown doctor
• clownfish
• clownish

Translations

Verb

clown (third-person singular simple present clowns, present participle clowning, simple past and past participle clowned)

1. (intransitive) To act in a silly or playful fashion.
2. (transitive, African-American Vernacular) To ridicule.
   • 2002, Vibe (volume 10, number 11, page 62)

     The show Dismissed was one of my favorites, because I like to see people get clowned.

   • 2017, Darrell Smith, Miracle Baby

     All my comrades were laughing and clowning me, but shit, that didn't stop me from talking more shit.

Derived terms

• clown about (British)
• clown around

See also

• coulrophobia
• jester
• jackpudding

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?u?n/
• Hyphenation: clown
• Rhymes: -?u?n

Noun

clown m (plural clowns, diminutive clowntje n)

1. clown (entertainer)

Derived terms

• circusclown
• clownsneus
• clownvis

See also

• august
• harlekijn
• paljas
• pierrot
• nar
• witte clown
• zot

French

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klun/
• Homophone: clowns

Noun

clown m (plural clowns)

1. clown (performer)
2. clown (person who acts in a comic way)

Synonyms

• (performer): (Louisiana) macaque

Further reading

• “clown” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

clown m (invariable)

1. clown (artist)

   Synonym: pagliaccio

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klawn/

Noun

clown m pers

1. (comedy) Alternative spelling of klaun.

Declension

Derived terms

• (noun) clownada
• (adjective) clownowski

Further reading

• clown in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• clown in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• clon

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klon/, [?klõn]

Noun

clown m (plural clownes)

1. clown (circus performance artist)

   Synonym: payaso

Swedish

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kla?n/

Noun

clown c

1. clown

Declension

Synonyms

• pajas

Derived terms

• clownaktig
• clownfisk

References

• clown in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?u?n/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English clown.

Noun

clown m (plural clowniaid)

1. clown

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• closwn (colloquial, first-person singular conditional)

Verb

clown

1. first-person plural present/future of cloi
2. first-person singular imperfect/conditional of cloi
3. (literary) first-person plural imperative of cloi

Mutation

English

Etymology

joke +? -er, but in the sense of a playing card possibly by alteration of Jucker, also the origin of the name of the card game euchre.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d???k?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?o?k?/
• Rhymes: -??k?(r)

Noun

joker (plural jokers)

1. A person who makes jokes.
2. (slang) A funny person.
3. A jester.

   Synonyms: court jester, fool, jester

4. A playing card that features a picture of a joker (that is, a jester) and that may be used as a wild card in some card games.
5. An unspecified, vaguely disreputable person.

6. (New Zealand, colloquial) A man.
7. A clause in a contract that undermines its apparent provisions.
   • 1922, Farm Machinery and Equipment (page lxxxiii)

     Discussion of contracts and the many provisions contained therein led to a vote making it the sense of the convention that manufacturers should use a simple sales contract, free from jokers.

   • 1939, Canadian Parliament, Official Report of Debates, House of Commons (volume 218, page 858)

     Then, sir, on page 12 of the agreement there is a joker clause, which provides for payments in addition to the ten per cent, […]

   • 1942, Billboard (volume 54, number 41, page 5)

     Stone claimed that there was a Joker in the contract, one clause (No. 2) calling for two weeks' notice and another (No. 8) calling for payment on a par-day basis after the first two weeks.

   • 1958, Duncan Leroy Kennedy, Bill drafting (page 12)

     The object of these provisions is to prevent insertion of "jokers" or "sleepers" in bills and securing passage under the false color of the title.

Related terms

• joke

See also

• ????, ????, ????

Translations

See also

See also

• Wikipedia article on jokers (jesters)
• Wikipedia article on the joker (playing card)
• Wikipedia article on the Joker in Batman

Anagrams

• jerko

Danish

Etymology

From English joker.

Noun

joker

1. joker (playing card)

Declension

Further reading

• “joker” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From English joker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?jo?k?r/
• Rhymes: -o?k?r

Noun

joker m (plural jokers, diminutive jokertje n)

1. joker (playing card)
2. any wild card or similar, even in non-card games

Derived terms

• voor joker staan

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.k??/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /d?o.kœ?/, [d?o??.kœ?]

Noun

joker m (plural jokers)

1. (card games) joker
2. (computing) wildcard
3. (on a game show) lifeline
4. (Scrabble) blank tile

See also

Further reading

• “joker” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Polish

Alternative forms

• d?oker

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d???.k?r/

Noun

joker m anim

1. (card games) joker

Declension

Portuguese

Noun

joker m (plural jokers)

1. Alternative form of jóquer

See also

Romanian

Etymology

From French joker, English joker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??o.k?r/

Noun

joker m (plural jokeri)

1. (card games) joker

Declension