Comics

How to spell comics

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce comics

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does comics mean?

1. nounMagazines, books, or strips that tell stories through sequences of drawings, often with humour.

Comics in a sentence

• He kept a long box of vintage comics in the attic.

• The shop sells rare comics alongside graphic novels.

Where does comics come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek komikos, meaning 'relating to comedy', which itself grew from komos, a word for a riotous, festive procession or revel with singing. Latin borrowed it as comicus, and it reached English in the late 1500s as the adjective 'comic', meaning amusing or relating to humorous theatre. Through the 1800s 'comic' began to attach to printed humour, and the noun 'comic' came to mean a humorous illustrated paper. By the early twentieth century the plural 'comics' settled into everyday use for the funny illustrated strips in newspapers and, later, for comic books as a whole genre. The spelling stays reassuringly regular: there is no silent letter and no doubled consonant, just the base word plus a plain plural -s.

How the word is built

• comic (from Greek komikos: relating to comedy)
• -s (plural suffix)