Added 8 October 2026
glee
/ɡliː/ noun
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about glee at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.
verb
- To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)