Whimsical

How to spell whimsical

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce whimsical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does whimsical mean?

1. adjectivePlayfully fanciful, quaint, or guided by sudden unpredictable impulses.

Whimsical in a sentence

• The cafe had a whimsical decor of mismatched teapots and painted clouds.

• Her whimsical decision to repaint the office bright orange surprised the whole team.

Where does whimsical come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word grew out of the English noun 'whim', a playful or sudden fancy, and its fuller form 'whimsy'. The earlier form 'whim-wham', recorded in the 1500s, described a fanciful trinket or trifling object, and the shortened 'whim' came to mean a passing capricious impulse by the late 1600s. The adjective 'whimsical' was formed by adding the Latin-derived suffix '-ical' (meaning 'relating to'), giving the sense 'full of whims' or 'fanciful'. The ultimate roots of 'whim' are uncertain, though it may connect to a Scandinavian word for something that wavers or turns. The spelling trap lies in the silent 'h' tucked behind the 'w', a pattern English keeps in many wh- words.

How the word is built

• whimsy (a playful or fanciful notion)
• -ical (adjective suffix)