Merry

How to spell merry

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce merry

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does merry mean?

1. adjectiveCheerful, lively, and full of good spirits.

Merry in a sentence

• The office party put everyone in a merry mood.

• A merry crowd filled the pub on the last day of term.

Where does merry come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Merry descends from the Old English adjective myrige, which meant 'pleasant', 'agreeable', or 'delightful' rather than specifically cheerful. That Old English form grew from a Germanic root carrying the sense of something short and therefore enjoyable, the idea being that pleasant time seems to pass quickly. Over the medieval centuries the meaning narrowed and brightened from 'pleasant' toward 'lively and full of cheer', the sense we keep today in phrases like a merry mood. The same root left its mark on the noun 'mirth', which still means joyful laughter. The spelling settled with a doubled r and a final y, a pattern that can trip writers who expect a single r as in 'very'.

How the word is built

• merr- (root, from Old English myrige: pleasant)
• -y (adjective suffix)