English
ridicule
Ridicule comes from French ridicule ‘ridiculous’, and goes back to Latin rideō ‘to laugh’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErideōas ridere‘to laugh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdiculus‘laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentridicule‘ridiculous’
- Englishearliest quotation 1563ridicule
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErideōas ridere‘to laugh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdiculus‘laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentridicule‘ridiculous’
- Englishearliest quotation 1563ridicule
Earliest quotation: 1563, John Foxe: “To the people […] but a trifle, to the…”
The story
The obsolete adjective is borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin rīdiculus (‘laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous’), from ridere (‘to laugh’). The verb is from the noun or else from French ridiculer, from ridicule.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
university, word, worth, version, weird, conversation, universe, versus, verse, divorce, diversity, vertical, advertisement, versatile, vortex, advert, convertible, adversity, revert, pervert, divert, vertex, vertigo, avert, diversification, vert, verso, perversity, wurst, 75 more
through Latin rideō ‘to laugh’
Another origin of ridicule
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdeō‘laugh’uncertain
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdiculus‘laughable, funny, amusing, humorous’uncertain
- Frenchc. 1600–presentridicule‘reticule’uncertain
- Englishtodayridicule
Today it means
verb To criticize or disapprove of someone or something through scornful jocularity; to make fun of.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin rideō / ridicule