FUNNY
What does "FUNNY" mean?
Causing laughter or amusement; or strange and hard to explain.
Meanings
- Causing laughter or amusement; comical. His impression of the teacher was so funny the class couldn't stop laughing.
- Strange, odd, or difficult to explain. There's a funny noise coming from the engine.
- Slightly unwell, faint, or unsettled. I felt a bit funny after standing up too fast. informal
- Suspicious or dishonest; not quite right. There's something funny about the way the books are balanced. informal
Did you know?
- Because 'funny' means both amusing and odd, English invented a phrase to tell them apart - 'funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?' - popularized by Ian Hay's 1936 play 'The Housemaster'.
Word origin
From 'fun' (18th-century noun for amusement, perhaps from earlier 'fon', to befool) plus the adjective suffix '-y'; the 'strange' sense arose in the 19th century, prompting the clarifying question 'funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?'.
Remember it
FUNNY has double-N, like a double take: one N for the laugh, one N for 'that's weird'.
A little poem
One word for the joke that lands and the engine that won't-
ask 'ha-ha or peculiar?' before you assume which you've got.
couplet
Wordplay
- The mechanic said the noise was funny. I waited for the punchline; he handed me the bill.
What it teaches
The line between charming and unsettling is thin enough that one word holds both.
Quick facts
What does FUNNY mean?
Causing laughter or amusement; or strange and hard to explain.
Is FUNNY a valid word?
Yes — FUNNY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is FUNNY?
FUNNY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does FUNNY come from?
From 'fun' (18th-century noun for amusement, perhaps from earlier 'fon', to befool) plus the adjective suffix '-y'; the 'strange' sense arose in the 19th century, prompting the clarifying question 'funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?'.
What can FUNNY teach us?
The line between charming and unsettling is thin enough that one word holds both.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.