Joyous

How to spell joyous

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce joyous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does joyous mean?

1. adjectiveFull of happiness and delight, or expressing great gladness.

Joyous in a sentence

• The wedding was a joyous occasion for the whole family.

• The choir filled the hall with joyous singing.

Where does joyous come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built from the noun 'joy' and the adjective-forming suffix '-ous', which means 'full of' or 'characterised by'. 'Joy' itself came into English in the 1200s from the Old French 'joie', meaning delight or gladness, which traces back to the Latin 'gaudia', the plural of 'gaudium', literally 'rejoicing' or 'a source of delight'. That Latin noun grew from the verb 'gaudere', meaning 'to rejoice' or 'to be glad'. The '-ous' ending arrived through French as well, from the Latin '-osus', and English writers attached it to 'joy' to describe something brimming with joy. A useful spelling reminder is that the word is simply 'joy' with '-ous' added: the 'y' is kept and never changed to an 'i', so it stays 'joyous' rather than 'joious'.

How the word is built

• joy (gladness, from Old French joie)
• -ous (full of, characterised by)