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Origin and history of pleasantry

pleasantry(n.)

1650s, "sprightly humor in conversation, witticism, raillery," from French plaisanterie "joke, jest; joking, jesting," from plaisant "pleasant, pleasing, agreeable" (see pleasant). From 1701 as "a sprightly or humorous saying." Related: Pleasantries.

also from 1650s

Entries linking to pleasantry

pleasant(adj.)

late 14c., plesaunte (early 14c. as a surname), "pleasing or acceptable to God;" also "agreeable, desirable; delightful, delicious; satisfying to the mind or senses;" of persons, "charming, gracious," from Old French plaisant "pleasant, pleasing, agreeable" (12c.), present participle of plaisir "to please, give pleasure to, satisfy," from Latin placere "to be acceptable, be liked, be approved" (see please). Pleasantry has the word's modern French sense of "funny, jocular, witty." Related: Pleasantly. Pleasantness "pleasing or agreeable character or quality" is attested from 1520s.

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    tuning
    [Shore] was a man of humour and pleasantry, and was the original inventor of the tuning-fork, an instrument which he constantly...
    dry
    Of persons, "showing no emotion," c. 1200; of humor or jests, "without show of pleasantry, caustic, sarcastic" early 15c....
    jest
    early 13c., geste, "narrative of exploits," from Old French geste "action, exploit," from Latin gesta "deeds," neuter plural of gestus, past participle of gerere "to carry, behave, act, perform" (see gest, which preserves the original sense). Sense descended through "idle tale" (
    joke
    1660s, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from Latin iocus "joke, jest, sport, pastime" (source also of French jeu, Spanish juego, Portuguese jogo, Italian gioco), from Proto-Italic *joko-, from PIE *iok-o- "word, utterance," from root *yek- (1) "to speak" (cogna
    innocent
    mid-14c., "doing no evil; free from sin, guilt, or moral wrong," from Old French inocent "harmless; not guilty; pure" (12c.), from Latin innocentem (nominative innocens) "not guilty, blameless; harmless; disinterested," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + nocentem (nominative nocens),
    Elizabeth
    fem. proper name, Biblical name of the wife of Aaron, from Late Latin Elisabeth, from Greek Eleisabeth, Eleisabet, from Hebrew Elishebha "God is an oath," the second element said by Klein to be related to shivah (fem. sheva) "seven," and to nishba "he swore," originally "he bound
    brand
    Old English brand, brond "fire, flame, destruction by fire; firebrand, piece of burning wood, torch," and (poetic) "sword," from Proto-Germanic *brandaz "a burning" (source also of Old Norse brandr, Old High German brant, Old Frisian brond "firebrand; blade of a sword," German br
    bender
    late 15c., "instrument for bending," agent noun from bend (v.). Slang meaning "drinking bout" is American English, attested from 1846, perhaps from the Scottish sense of "a hard drinker" (1728). Perhaps from the verb in the figurative sense of "strain, brace, wind up." Other slan
    trump
    "playing card of a suit ranking above others," 1520s, alteration of triumph (n.), which also was the name of a card game...."fabricate, devise," 1690s, from trump "deceive, cheat" (1510s), from Middle English trumpen (late 14c.), from Old French tromper "to deceive," of uncertain
    curtain
    c. 1300, curtine, "hanging screen of textile fabric used to close an opening or shut out light, enclose a bed, or decorate an altar," from Old French cortine "curtain, tapestry, drape, blanket," from Late Latin cortina "curtain," but in classical Latin "round vessel, cauldron," f

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