Today's Word "Jocund"
Published in Vocabulary
jocund \JAH-kehnd or JO-kehnd\ (adjective) - Happy, light-hearted, pleasant, carefree, cheerful.
"Sally would always point out that a jocund home was a good place for children to grow up, so she would encourage everyone to laugh often."
Old French "jocund" from Latin jucundus, jocundus "pleasant, agreeable" from juvare "to help" and related to jocus "joke, jest." "Juggler" is also a relative, originally meaning "entertainer." In Italian "jocundus" became giocondo "happy" and the name of the street singer in Ponchielli's opera, La Gioconda "the happy girl." The Latin word jocus "joke" has begotten a plethora of offspring in the English language. Aside from "joke" itself, "jocund" means simply "happy" while "jocose" means "joking, full of jokes, like a joke." A jocose remark is a joke but a jocund remark is simply a cheerful one. Then there is jocular "joking, kidding" closer in meaning to "jocose" than "jocund." The adverb for today's word is "jocundly" while the noun is "jocundity." The nouns for "jocose" and "jocular" are "jocosity" and "jocularity."
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