glee
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glee¹
- /ɡliː/
Rhymes with -iː
Where it comes from
From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”).
Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew (“game, play, sport, mirth, joy, rejoicing, entertainment, melody, music”), Icelandic glý (“joy, glee, gladness”), Ancient Greek χλεύη (khleúē, “joke, jest, scorn”). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.
noun glees
-
Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the gods they made.
Similar: merriment, mirth, gaiety, gloat, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delight, delightedness
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry. Sometimes they had glees, when Captain Strong’s chest was of vast service, and he boomed out in a prodigious bass, of which he was not a little proud.
glee²
- /ɡliː/
Rhymes with -iː
Where it comes from
From Middle English gleen, glewen, from Old English glēowian (“to sing, play an instrument, jest”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīwōn, from Proto-Germanic *glīwōną. Cognate with Icelandic glýja (“to be gleeful”).
verb glees · gleeing · gleed
- To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: gleefulness, gloat, gloating, schadenfreude, mirthfulness, mirth, hilarity, joy, gladness, cheer, happiness, delight, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure, merriment
Translations
Every language
noun Joy; merriment; mirth; gayety; particularly, the mirth enjoyed at a feast
| Español | alegría |
|---|---|
| Português | alegria |
| Français | joie |
| Deutsch | Freude, Fröhlichkeit, Ausgelassenheit |
| Italiano | gioia, allegria |
| Ελληνικά | ευωχία evochía |
| Русский | ликова́ние likovánije, весе́лье vesélʹje, ра́дость rádostʹ |
| العربية | بَهْجَة bahja |
noun Music; minstrelsy; entertainment
| Português | música, canção |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Rundgesang |
| Русский | му́зыка múzyka, развлече́ния razvlečénija |
noun An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices
| Deutsch | Rundgesang |
|---|---|
| Русский | пе́сня pésnja, песнопе́ние pesnopénije |
Talk about this word "glee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/glee. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. glee. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/glee "glee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/glee.Cite this
@misc{glee_2026,
title = {glee},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/glee},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
