different between merry vs playsome

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??i/
• (General American) enPR: m?r??, IPA^(key): /?m??i/, /?me??i/
• (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -??i
• Hyphenation: mer?ry

Etymology 1

From Middle English mery, merie, mirie, myrie, murie, mur?e, from Old English meri?e, miri?e, myri?e, myre?e, myr?e (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mré??us (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek ?????? (brakhús, “short”). Doublet of brief.

Alternative forms

• merie, merrie, mery (obsolete)

Adjective

merry (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)

1. Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
2. Festive and full of fun and laughter.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     If I have the chance, I will make our worshipful Sheriff pay right well for that which he hath done to me. Maybe I may bring him some time into Sherwood Forest and have him to a right merry feast with us.

3. Brisk

4. Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.
5. (euphemistic) drunk; tipsy

Synonyms

• (jolly): cheerful, content, ecstatic, exultant, gay, happy, jovial, joyful, pleased; see also Thesaurus:happy
• (festive): convivial, gay, jovial
• (brisk): energetic, lively, spirited; see also Thesaurus:active
• (causing laughter): delightful, gladful
• (drunk): lushy, muzzy, squiffy; see also Thesaurus:drunk

Antonyms

• (jolly): miserable, unhappy

Derived terms

• Merry Christmas

Translations

Derived terms

• merrier
• merrily
• merriment
• merriness

Related terms

• mirth

Etymology 2

French merise

Noun

merry (plural merries)

1. An English wild cherry.

Anagrams

• Rymer

English

Etymology

From play +? -some.

Adjective

playsome (comparative more playsome, superlative most playsome)

1. (dated, chiefly literary) Playful; frolicsome.
   • c. 1690, John Aubrey, "On Thomas Hobbes" in Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1918)[1]:

     I have heard his brother Edm and M'r Wayte his schoole fellow &c, say that when he was a Boy he was playsome enough: but withall he had even then a contemplative Melancholinesse.

   • 1855, James Avis Bartley, "Elfindale" in Lays of Ancient Virginia, and Other Poems[2]:

     Sweet Frankie lives in Elfindale;

     Where all the flowers are fair, and frail

     (Like her fair self,) a slender fairy,

     And like a zephyr, playsome, airy,

     But lovelier far, than buxom Mary.

   • c. 1880, William Barnes, "The girt woak tree that's in the dell"[3]:

     An' down below's the cloty brook

     Where I did vish with line an' hook,

     An' beat, in playsome dips and zwims,

     The foamy stream, wi' white-skinned lim's.

Synonyms

• carefree, merry, sportive, wanton

Derived terms

• playsomely
• playsomeness

References

Anagrams

• maypoles