Mirth
noun /mɜːθ/ — Amusement expressed through laughter; literary joy
Definition
Amusement or laughter — specifically the kind that is shared and expressed, not merely felt. The old English word for the active, audible, communal form of joy.
Beyond the definition
Joy that makes sound. Mirth is what happens when happiness cannot stay inside — when it has to come out as laughter, as play, as the specific brightness of people who are genuinely amused together.
Origin & history
From Old English 'myrgð' (joy, pleasure, mirth) — related to 'merry'. One of the oldest English words for joy — it precedes most of the Latin-derived alternatives. 'Eat, drink, and be merry' is older English than 'be happy'.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The mirth at the table lasted long past the meal — the kind of laughing that keeps restarting whenever someone catches someone else's eye.
Mirth in the Bible and in Shakespeare is almost always communal — a quality of rooms full of people, not of individuals alone.
She had a gift for mirth — not jokes exactly, but the ability to notice what was funny about the situation they were already in.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Mirth” when the meaning fits your context: Amusement or laughter — specifically the kind that is shared and expressed, not merely felt. The old English word for the active, audible, communal form of joy.
Synonyms
Antonyms
gloom, solemnity, melancholy
Related words
Word in the Wild
Illustrative story: an imagined scene, not a documented event or interview.
The joke wasn't even that clever. But something about the timing — the delivery, the moment it arrived in — made it the funniest thing anyone at the table had heard in months.
The table dissolved. Not politely — fully. The kind of laughter that loses itself, that becomes its own thing, that leaves everyone slightly helpless.
Somebody said, half an hour later: "I haven't laughed like that in a year." Nobody could explain why this particular joke, at this particular moment. But it had worked its way into something that had been waiting to open.
Questions about this word
What does "Mirth" mean?
Mirth is noun meaning: Amusement expressed through laughter; literary joy. Amusement or laughter — specifically the kind that is shared and expressed, not merely felt. The old English word for the active, audible, communal form of joy.
Where does the word "Mirth" come from?
From Old English 'myrgð' (joy, pleasure, mirth) — related to 'merry'. One of the oldest English words for joy — it precedes most of the Latin-derived alternatives. 'Eat, drink, and be merry' is older English than 'be happy'.