Meaning and Origin
What does the name Merry mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
User Submitted Meanings
- A submission from Ghana says the name Merry means "Gifts of God" and is of African origin.
- Laughingly gay; overflowing with good humor and good spirits; jovial; inclined to laughter or play; sportive."They drank, and were merry with him." [Gen. xliii. 34.]"I am never merry when I hear sweet music." [Shak.]
- Cheerful; joyous; not sad; happy."Is any merry? let him sing psalms." [Jas. v. 13.]
- Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight; as, a merry jest." Merrywind and weather." [Spenser.]synonyms: Cheerful; blithe; lively; sprightly; vivacious; gleeful; joyous; mirthful; jocund; sportive; hilarious.
Etymology: OE. merie mirie murie, merry, pleasant, AS. merge myrige, pleasant; cf. murge, adv.; prob. akin to OHG. murg, short, Goth. gamaúrgjan to shorten; cf. L. murcus a coward, who cuts off his thumb to escape military service; the Anglo-Saxon and English meanings coming from the idea of making the time seem short. Cf. Mirth
- Quick and energetic ("a merry chase")
- Offering fun and gaiety ("a merry evening")
- Full of or showing high-spirited merriment ("have a merry Christmas" and "peals of merry laughter")
From Middle English merie, mirie, myrie, murie, murȝe, from Old English meriġe, miriġe, myriġe, myreġe, myrġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Old High German murg, murgi ("short, brief"; > German murk (“short, lazy”)), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”).