cheerful
English
Etymology
From Middle English chereful, cherful, equivalent to cheer + -ful.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪɹfəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɪɹfʊl/
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪə(ɹ)fəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɪə(ɹ)fʊl/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fəl/, /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fʊl/[1]
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: cheer‧ful
- Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl, -ɪə(ɹ)fəl
Adjective
cheerful (comparative more cheerful, superlative most cheerful)
- Noticeably happy and optimistic.
- Bright and pleasant.
- They enjoyed a cheerful room.
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
Derived terms
Translations
happy
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References
- Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 4.36, page 124.
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