different between frolic vs caprice

English

Alternative forms

• frolick

Etymology

From Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”), from Middle Dutch vrolijc, from Old Dutch fr?l?k, from Proto-Germanic *frawal?kaz. Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”).

The first element, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frawaz, is cognate with Middle English frow (“hasty”); the latter element, ultimately from *-l?kaz, is cognate with -ly, -like.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??l?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??l?k/
• Rhymes: -?l?k
• Hyphenation: frol?ic

Adjective

frolic (comparative more frolic, superlative most frolic)

1. (now rare) Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief. [from 1530s]
   • 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro” in Poems, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 31,^[1]

     The frolick wind that breathes the Spring,

     Zephyr with Aurora playing,

     As he met her once a Maying

     There on Beds of Violets blew,

   • 1682, Edmund Waller, “Of Love” in Poems, &c. written upon several occasions, and to several persons, London: H. Herringman, 5th edition, 1686, p. 73,^[2]

     For women, born to be controul’d,

     Stoop to the forward and the bold,

     Affect the haughty and the proud,

     The gay, the frollick, and the loud.
2. (obsolete, rare) Free; liberal; bountiful; generous.

Verb

frolic (third-person singular simple present frolics, present participle frolicking, simple past and past participle frolicked)

1. (intransitive) To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. [from 1580s]

2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.

Inflection

Derived terms

• rollick

Translations

Noun

frolic (plural frolics)

1. Gaiety; merriment. [from 1610s]
   • 1832-1888, Louisa May Alcott

     the annual jubilee […] filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendour, frolic and fun.

   • 2012 (original 1860), Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun - Page 276:

     By the old-fashioned magnificence of this procession, it might worthily have included his Holiness in person, with a suite of attendant Cardinals, if those sacred dignitaries would kindly have lent their aid to heighten the frolic of the Carnival.

2. A playful antic.
   • 1680, James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, Art of Poetry

     He would be at his frolic once again.

3. (obsolete, chiefly US) A social gathering.

Translations

See also

• cavort

Related terms

• frolicsome

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “frolic”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio (“fright, sudden start”): capo (“head”), from Latin caput + riccio (“curly”), from Latin ?ricius (“hedgehog”), or from Italian capro (“goat”). Doublet of capriccio.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /k??p?is/

Noun

caprice (plural caprices)

1. An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion; a whim.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. A brief romance
   • Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

     The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that a caprice lasts a little longer.

3. An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     After that we cast off all allegiance to immediate, tangible, and time-touched things, and entered a fantastic world of hushed unreality in which the narrow, ribbon-like road rose and fell and curved with an almost sentient and purposeful caprice amidst the tenantless green peaks and half-deserted valleys

4. A disposition to be impulsive.
5. (music) A capriccio.

Related terms

• capricious

Translations

French

Etymology

From Italian capriccio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.p?is/

Noun

caprice m (plural caprices)

1. whim; wish

   Synonym: lubie
2. tantrum

Derived terms

• capricieux

Descendants

• ? Danish: kaprice
• ? English: caprice
• ? Romanian: capriciu

Further reading

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