different between zaniness vs zany

English

Etymology

zany +? -ness

Noun

zaniness (countable and uncountable, plural zaninesses)

1. The state or condition of being zany.

Synonyms

• craziness

English

Etymology

From Middle French zani, zanni, from Italian zanni (“a kind of masked clown character”), from Zanni, a dialectal form of Giovanni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ze?ni/
• Rhymes: -e?ni
• Hyphenation: za?ny

Adjective

zany (comparative zanier, superlative zaniest)

1. Unusual and awkward in a funny, comical manner; outlandish; clownish.
2. Ludicrously or incongruously comical.

Synonyms

• wacky

Derived terms

• zaniness

Translations

Noun

zany (plural zanies)

1. (obsolete) A fool or clown, especially one whose business on the stage is to imitate foolishly the actions of the principal clown.
   • a. 1631, John Donne, Epistle to Mr. I. W.

     Then write that I may follow, and so be / Thy echo, thy debtor, thy foil, thy zany.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     So there he caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if they wanted underpinning from the floods.

Verb

zany (third-person singular simple present zanies, present participle zanying, simple past and past participle zanied)

1. (obsolete) To mimic foolishly.

References

• John Dover Wilson, comp. (1911) Life in Shakespeare's England: A Book of Elizabethan Prose, Cambridge: At the University Press, OCLC 2938084.

Anagrams

• Zayn, zayn