English
comic
Comic comes from Latin comicus ‘comic’, and goes back to Ancient Greek κῶμος ‘carousal’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῶμος1kômos‘carousal’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκωμικός1kōmikós‘relating to comedy’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomicus1‘comic’
- Englishearliest quotation 1792comic1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English comic
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond: “As there was something excessively comique in the distress…”.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῶμοςWiktionary, English comickômos‘carousal’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκωμικόςWiktionary, English comickōmikós‘relating to comedy’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomicusWiktionary, English comic‘comic’
- Englishearliest quotation 1792comicWiktionary, English comic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond: “As there was something excessively comique in the distress…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with comic, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Ancient Greek κῶμος ‘carousal’
- comedian ← comédien ← comédie ← comedie ← cōmoedia
5 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Pertaining to comedy, as a literary genre.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “comic”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek κῶμος / comic