Word of the Day

: June 16, 2021

jocund

adjective JAH-kund

What It Means

: marked by or suggestive of high spirits and lively mirthfulness

jocund in Context

"'Get drunk … on words!' proclaims this pub crawl/reading event: More than 80 writers will take over some 35 Capitol Hill and First Hill venues (mostly bars, as well as places like Elliott Bay Book Company and the Frye Art Museum) to knock back a few and present their own work to increasingly jocund crowds." — Gavin Borchert, The Seattle (Washington) Magazine, October 2019

"Clearly in a jocund mood after Tuesday's program of Nordic folk songs, the Danish String Quartet arrived at Campbell Hall on Wednesday, February 14, poised to enter fully into the music of two of their greatest national composers, Hans Abrahamsen and Carl Nielsen." — Charles Donelan, The Santa Barbara (California) Independent, 20 Feb. 2019

Did You Know?

Don't let the etymology of jocund play tricks on you. The word comes from jucundus, a Latin word meaning "agreeable" or "delightful," and ultimately from the Latin verb juvare, meaning "to help." But jucundus looks and sounds a bit like jocus, the Latin word for "joke." These two roots took a lively romp through many centuries together and along the way the lighthearted jocus influenced the spelling and meaning of jucundus, an interaction that eventually resulted in our modern English word jocund in the 14th century.