From en.wiktionary.org:
** English
[wikipedia]
*** Etymology
From [en], [enm],[1] from [en], [ang], from [en], from [gmw-pro]; equivalent
to [en]. [en].
The semantic evolution is “lucky” to “innocent” to “naive” to “foolish”.
Compare the similar evolution of [en] (originally meaning “accommodating”),
and almost the reverse with [en] (originally meaning “ignorant”).
*** Pronunciation
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
*** Adjective
[er]
1. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance .
2. * [V]
3. * [part=I]
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1970 | author=w:Graham Chapman; et al | title=w:Monty Python's Flying Circus | section=I, 183
|passage=Well sir, I have a SILLY walk and I'd like to obtain a Government
grant to help me develop it.}}
1. [en] Absurdly large .
2. * 1875 JUNE 26 , _Saturday Review_ , 815/2:
3. *: He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a SILLY price for a hack.
1. [en] Blessed , _particularly:_
1. Good ; pious .
2. * [1450] , _Seven Sages_ , line 1361:
3. *: The SYLY man lay and herde, / And hys wyf answerd .
4. * [en]
5. Holy .
6. * 1650 in 1885 , W. Cramond, _Church of Rathven_ , 21:
7. *: ... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six SILIE Saturdayes .
2. [en] Pitiful , inspiring compassion , _particularly:_
3. * 1556 in 1880 , William Henry Turner, _Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford... 1509–83_ , 246:
4. *: The fire raging upon the SILLY Carcase .
5. * [en]
1. [en] Innocent ; suffering undeservedly , _especially as an epithet of lamb s and sheep ._
2. * [1475] , in 1925 , Rossell Hope Robbins, _Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries_ , 109:
3. *: There is no best in þe word , I wene ... / That suffuris half e so myche tene / As doth þe SYLLY wat .
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=a. 1513 | author=William Dunbar | title=Poems | section=247
|passage=In the SILLY lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.}}
1. [en] Helpless , defenseless .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1539 | translator=Richard Morison | author=Juan Luis Vives | title=Introduction to Wysedome
|passage=Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon,
that he may vouchsafe to defende vs SYLLY wretches.}}
1. * [part=1]
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1665 | translator=Thomas Manley | author=Hugo Grotius | title=De Rebus Belgicis | section=938
|passage=There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak
Sea-men, and SILLY Fisher-men.}}
1. Insignificant , worthless , [en] _especially with regard to land quality_ .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=a. 1500 | translator=Robert Henryson | author=Aesop | title=Two Mice
|passage=Ane SILLIE scheill vnder ane erdfast stane}}
1. * [III]
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1907 | title=Transactions of the Highland & Agricultural Society | section=19, 172
|passage=It is naturally very poor, ‘ SILLY’ land.}}
1. Weak , frail ; flimsy [use concerning people and animals is now obsolete] .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1567 | author=John Maplet | title=A Greene Forest
|passage=Here we see that a smal SILLIE Bird knoweth how to match with so
great a Beast.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1587 | translators=Philip Sidney; et al. | author=Philippe de Mornay | title=A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion | section=xxxii, 596
|passage=[Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold
his SILLIE kingdome.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1946 | year_published=1971 | title=Scottish National Dictionary | section=Vol. VIII, 234/3
|passage=That'll never grow. It's ower SILLY.}}
1. Sickly ; feeble ; infirm .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1636 | author=Alexander Montgomerie | title=The Cherrie & the Slae | line=1512
|passage=To doe the thing we can / To please... / This SILLY sickly man.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1818 | publisher=w:Walter Scott | title=Heart of Mid-Lothian | section=v
|passage=Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems
but SILLY?}}
1. [en] Simple , plain , _particularly:_
1. Rustic , homely .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1570 | author=John Foxe | title=Actes & Monumentes | section=Vol. II, 926/1
|passage=Dauid had no more but a SYLIE slynge, and a few stones.}}
1. [en] Lowly , of humble station .
2. * [1547] , the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, _Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis_ , Book II:
3. *: The SILLY herdman all astonnied standes .
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1568 | author=Alexander Scott | title=Poems | section=27
|passage=So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,<br>A lord to lufe a SILLY lass.}}
1. Mentally simple , foolish , _particularly:_
1. [en] Rustic , uneducated , unlearned .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1687 | translator=Archibald Lovell | author=Jean de Thévenot | title=The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant | section=i, 2
|passage=From Hell (of which the SILLY people of the Country think the top of
this hill to be the mouth).}}
1. Thoughtless , lacking judgment .
2. * 1576 , Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, _A Panoplie of Epistles_ , 24:
3. *: Wee SILLIE soules , take the matter too too heauily .
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1841 | author=w:Charles Dickens | title=w:Barnaby Rudge | section=iii, 252
|passage=‘Heaven help this SILLY fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1972 | author=w:George Lucas; et al | title=w:American Graffiti | section=8
|passage=Steve, don't be SILLY. I mean _social_ intercourse.}}
1. * {{ quote-av | en | year=1990 | title= 吴语: House of Cards (UK TV show) | season=1 | number=3
|passage=The truth is that everyone is SILLIER than you could possibly imagine
they'd be.}}
1. [en] Mentally retarded .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1568 | title=Christis Kirk on Grene
|passage=Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes SILLIE.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1814 | publisher=w:Walter Scott | title=w:Waverley | section=III, xvi, 237
|passage=Davie's no just like other folk... but he's no sae SILLY as folk tak
him for.}}
1. Stupefied , senseless ; stunned or daze d.
2. * 1829 JANUARY 17 , _Lancaster Gazette_ :
3. *: You say you were knocked SILLY —was that so?
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1907 | author=w:John Millington Synge | title=w:Playboy of the Western World | section=iii, 64
|passage=Drinking myself SILLY...}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1942 | author=J. Chodorov; et al | title=Junior Miss | section=ii, i, 113
|passage=Well, Judy, now that you've scared me SILLY, what's so important?}}
1. * {{ quote-av | en | year=1990 | title= 吴语: House of Cards (UK TV show) | season=1 | number=2
|passage=I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this
week over, we'll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And
shag ourselves SILLY. How about that?}}
1. [en] Very close to the batsman , facing the bowler ; close r than short .
2. * 1862 JULY 4 , _Notts. Guardian:_
3. *: Carpenter now placed himself at SILLY -point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.
**** Usage notes
- _Silly_ is usually taken to imply a less serious degree of foolishness, mental impairment, or hilarity than its synonyms.
- The sense meaning _stupefied_ is usually restricted to times when silly is used as a verb complement, denoting that the action is done so severely or repetitively that it leaves one senseless.
**** Alternative forms
- [en] , [en] < !-- [en] , [en] , [en] ? -->
**** Synonyms
- [playful] charming
- Also see Thesaurus:foolish
**** Antonyms
- [playful] pious
**** Derived terms
{{col3|en |play silly beggars |play silly buggers |silliness |sillily
|sillycide |silly bean |silly billy |silly goose |silly me |silly mid off
|silly mid on |silly money |silly o'clock |silly pill |silly point |silly
putty |silly sausage |silly season |silly straw |silly string |silly window
syndrome |silly-how |strike me silly }}
**** Translations
[foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom]
- Afrikaans: [af] , [af]
- Arabic: [ar]
- Armenian: [hy] , [hy]
- Azerbaijani: [az] , [az] , [az] , [az] , [az]
- Bashkir: [ba]
- Basque: [eu]
- Belarusian: [be] , [be] , [be]
- Bengali: [bn]
- Breton: [br]
- Bulgarian: [bg] , [bg]
- Burmese: [my] , [my] , [my] , [my] , [my]
- Catalan: [ca] , [ca] , [ca] , [ca]
- Cherokee: [chr]
- Chichewa: [ny]
- Chinese:
- Czech: [cs] , [cs] , [cs]
- Danish: [da]
- Dhivehi: [dv]
- Dutch: [nl] , [nl]
- Esperanto: [eo]
- Estonian: [et] , [et]
- Ewe: [ee]
- Extremaduran: [ext]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi]
- French: [fr] , [fr] , [fr] , [fr] , [fr] , [fr]
- Friulian: [fur]
- Galician: [gl]
- Georgian: [ka]
- German: [de] , [de]
- Greek: [el] , [el] , [el]
- Hausa: [ha]
- Hawaiian: [haw]
- Hebrew: [he] , [he]
- Hindi: [hi]
- Hungarian: [hu] , [hu]
- Ido: [io]
- Igbo: [ig]
- Indonesian: [id] , [id]
- Ingrian: [izh]
- Interlingua: [ia]
- Irish: [ga] , [ga]
- Italian: [it]
- Japanese: [ja] , [ja] , [ja]
- Kannada: [kn]
- Khmer: [km]
- Korean: [ko]
- Lao: [lo]
- Latin: [la] , [la] , [la] , [la]
- Latvian: [lv] , [lv]
- Low German:
- Macedonian: [mk]
- Malayalam: [ml]
- Manx: [gv]
- Maori: [mi] , [mi]
- Marathi: [mr]
- Mirandese: [mwl]
- Norwegian:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Ottoman Turkish: [ota]
- Polish: [pl]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt] , [pt]
- Romagnol: [rgn]
- Romanian: [ro]
- Russian: [ru] , [ru] , [ru]
- Sanskrit: [sa]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd] , [gd]
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Slovak: [sk]
- Slovene: [sl] , [sl] , [sl] , [sl]
- Spanish: [es] , [es] , [es] , [es]
- Swedish: [sv]
- Thai: [th]
- Tongan: [to]
- Turkish: [tr] , [tr]
- Ukrainian: [uk] , [uk]
- Vietnamese: [vi]
[trans-bottom]
[irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors]
- Czech: [cs] , [cs]
- Dutch: [nl]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi] , [fi] , [fi]
- French: [fr] , [fr] , [fr] [slang] , [fr] [slang] , [fr] [slang]
- Irish: [ga]
- Japanese: [ja] , [ja]
- Latin: [la] , [la]
- Maori: [mi]
- Norwegian: [no] , [no]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt] , [pt]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd]
- Slovak: [sk]
- Spanish: [es]
[trans-bottom]
[playful, giggly]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Danish: [da]
- Dutch: [nl] , [nl]
- Esperanto: [eo]
- Finnish: [fi]
- French: [fr] , [fr] , [fr]
- Georgian: [ka]
- German: [de]
- Greek: [el]
- Hungarian: [hu]
- Icelandic: [is]
- Japanese: [ja]
- Portuguese: [pt]
- Romanian: [ro]
- Russian: [ru]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd]
- Spanish: [es]
- Swedish: [sv] , [sv]
- Tamil: [ta]
[trans-bottom]
[semiconscious]
- Czech: [cs] , [cs]
- Finnish: [fi]
- French: [fr]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt]
- Spanish: [es]
[trans-bottom]
[cricket: of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than
short] [trans-bottom]
[pejorative: simple, not intelligent, unrefined]
- Danish: [da]
- Dutch: [nl] , [nl]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi]
- French: [fr] , [fr]
- Galician: [gl]
- Hungarian: [hu]
- Italian: [it]
- Japanese: [ja] , [ja] , [ja]
- Norwegian:
- Ottoman Turkish: [ota] , [ota]
- Portuguese: [pt]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd]
- Slovak: [sk]
- Spanish: [es] , [es]
[trans-bottom]
[checktrans-top]
- Esperanto: [eo] , [eo]
- Indonesian: [id] , [id]
- Irish: [ga]
- Spanish: [es] , [es] , [es] , [es] , [es] , [es]
[trans-bottom]
*** Adverb
[sillier]
1. [en] Sillily : in a silly manner .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1731 | author=Colley Cibber | title=Careless Husband | edition=7th | section=i, i, 21
|passage=If you did but see how SILLY a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a
little asham'd of being in Love.}}
*** Noun
[en-noun]
1. [en] A silly person .
2. * 1807 MAY , _Scots Magazine_ , 366/1:
3. *: While they, poor SILLIES , bid good night, <br> O' love an' bogles eerie.
4. [en] _A term of address_ .
5. * 1918 SEPTEMBER , _St. Nicholas_ , 972/2:
6. *: ‘Come on, SILLY ,’ said Nannie.
7. [en] A mistake.
**** Translations
[silly person]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Danish: [da] , [da]
- German: [de]
- Norwegian:
- Portuguese: [pt] [Brazil] , [pt] [Brazil]
- Swedish: [sv]
- Turkish: [tr]
[trans-bottom]
*** References
References:
[1]. _Middle English Dictionary_ , "sēlī (adj.)" (see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=byte&byte=172254099) .
- _Oxford English Dictionary_ , ""silly, _adj., n.,_ and _adv._ ", 2013.
*** Anagrams
- [en]
[en]