Comedic

How to spell comedic

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce comedic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does comedic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to comedy, or having the qualities of comedy.

Comedic in a sentence

• The actor was praised for his impeccable comedic timing.

• The film blends a serious plot with sharp comedic moments.

Where does comedic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This adjective traces back to the Greek komoidia, the word for a comic stage play, which combined komos, meaning 'a revel' or 'merry festival procession', with aoidos, meaning 'singer', so that the original sense was something like 'the song of the revellers'. The Greek term passed into Latin as comoedia and then into Old French as comedie, entering English in the late fourteenth century as 'comedy' to name a humorous or light-hearted drama. The adjective 'comedic' itself is a later formation, appearing in the seventeenth century when English added the familiar Latin-derived ending -ic to mean 'relating to comedy'. It usefully distinguishes the technical sense, 'of or belonging to comedy', from the everyday 'comic' and 'comical', which more often describe something that simply makes us laugh. Because the single 'm' and single 'd' look so plain, writers sometimes double a letter by mistake, but the spelling stays faithful to its root comedy.

How the word is built

• comed- (from Greek komoidia: comedy)
• -ic (adjective suffix)