Etymograph

English

subrisive

Subrisive comes from New Latin subrisivus ‘amusing’, from Latin subrīdeō ‘to smile’, and ultimately from rīdeō ‘laugh’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdeō‘laugh’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubrīdeō‘to smile’
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900subrisivus‘amusing’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1885subrisive

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdeō‘laugh’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubrīdeō‘to smile’
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900subrisivus‘amusing’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1885subrisive

Earliest quotation: 1885, Grant Allen, Charles Darwin: “This half-hearted and somewhat subrisive denial, however, must be…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’

word, worth, university, weird, version, conversation, universe, divorce, vertical, verse, versus, diversity, advertisement, versatile, vortex, convertible, advert, revert, pervert, adversity, divert, vertex, vertigo, avert, diversification, vert, verso, wurst, perversity, 73 more

through Latin rīdeō ‘laugh’

ridiculous, ridicule, derision, deride, derisive, 8 more

Today it means

adj Playful, tongue-in-cheek.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin rīdeō / subrisive

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