Added 9 October 2026
silly
/ˈsɪl.i/ noun
In Latin: stultus, fatuus, ineptus Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about silly at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
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A word used for misbehaving children.
don't be a silly
adjective
Origin
From Middle English seely, sēlī, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ (“lucky, fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg, from *sāli; equivalent to seel (“happiness, bliss”) + -y. Doublet of Seelie. The semantic evolution is “lucky” to “innocent” to “naive” to “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)