Jayus
noun /ˈdʒaɪʊs/ — Indonesian: a joke so unfunny it becomes funny.
Definition
A bad joke told with such sincere commitment that the joke's failure itself becomes the source of amusement — the comedy arriving not from wit but from wonderful, earnest miscalculation.
Beyond the definition
You know this feeling. The joke lands with a thud, then everyone stares, then someone snorts — not at the joke but at the fact that the joke was tried. Jayus lives in the gap between intention and result.
Origin & history
Indonesian slang, widely shared in online communities exploring untranslatable words. Captures a specific comedic experience that no single English word covers.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
His entire comedic style was jayus — terrible puns delivered with complete confidence.
The silence after the jayus was louder than the laughter.
She loved his jayus more than his good jokes — the earnestness made it better.
Synonyms
dad joke, so-bad-it's-good, groan-worthy wit
Antonyms
wit, repartee
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Illustration of Shared Blame
Coworkers unfairly single out one colleague, with the isolated person appearing uncomfortable while others point in a way that fails at logic.
The failure of the group's behavior to successfully or reasonably assign blame—making their attempt seem like a bad, committed miscalculation—mirrors the logic of a jayus. The absurdity of their collective blame becomes an amusement, an earnest miscalculation of social dynamics.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated illustration