comedian

comedian
comedian
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1601), Olivia asks the disguised Viola, who has come to woo her on behalf of Orsino with a lover's speech ready to deliver, ‘Are you a comedian?’, meaning ‘Are you a comic actor?’. At a slightly earlier date (1581), the word is recorded in the meaning ‘writer of comic plays’; together these constitute the earliest records of the word. Its current meaning, applied to both men and women, is ‘a humorous entertainer on stage, television, etc.’ A feminine form, comédienne, is recorded from about 1860, but is now mostly restricted to historical reference. In the meaning ‘writer of comedies’, comedian is mostly used of the ancient writers Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence, to distinguish them from the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Modern English usage. 2014.

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  • comedian — COMEDIÁN, Ă, comedieni, e, s.m. şi f. Actor sau actriţă de comedie; comediant. ♦ fig. Persoană care ştie să se prefacă, care adoptă atitudini teatrale în viaţa de toate zilele. [pr.: di an] – Din fr. comédien. Trimis de hai, 09.07.2004. Sursa:… …   Dicționar Român

  • Comedian — Co*me di*an, n. [Cf. F. com[ e]dien.] 1. An actor or player in comedy. The famous comedian, Roscius. Middleton. [1913 Webster] 2. A writer of comedy. Milton. [1913 Webster] || …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • comedian — 1580s, comic poet, later (c.1600) stage actor in comedies, also, generally, actor, from M.Fr. comédien, from comédie (see COMEDY (Cf. comedy)). Meaning professional joke teller, etc. is from 1898 …   Etymology dictionary

  • comedian — [n] funny person, often professional actor, banana*, card*, clown, comic, cutup, droll, entertainer, farceur, humorist, jester, joker, jokester, laugh, merry andrew, million laughs*, quipster, stand up comic, stooge*, top banana*, wag,… …   New thesaurus

  • comedian — ► NOUN (fem. comedienne) 1) an entertainer whose act is intended to arouse laughter. 2) a comic actor …   English terms dictionary

  • comedian — [kə mē′dē ən] n. [Fr comédien: see COMEDY] 1. an actor who plays comic parts 2. an entertainer who tells jokes, sings comic songs, etc. 3. a person who amuses others by behaving in a comic way 4. Rare a writer of comedy …   English World dictionary

  • Comedian — For other uses, see Comedian (disambiguation). A comedian (sometimes comedienne, see below) or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a… …   Wikipedia

  • comedian — Synonyms and related words: banana, buffoon, burlesquer, card, caricaturist, choreographer, clown, comedienne, comic, cutup, dramatist, dramatizer, dramaturge, droll, epigrammatist, farcer, farceur, farceuse, farcist, fool, funnyman, gag writer,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • comedian — UK [kəˈmiːdɪən] / US [kəˈmɪdɪən] noun [countable] Word forms comedian : singular comedian plural comedians a) someone whose job is to entertain people by telling jokes and stories to make them laugh b) someone who says or does something that you… …   English dictionary

  • Comedian — Komödiant; Humorist; Komiker * * * Co|me|di|an 〈[kɔmi:djən] m. 6〉 1. = Komiker (2) 2. 〈TV〉 jmd., der in einer Comedy(show) auftritt [engl., „Komödiant“] * * * 1Co|me|di|an [kə mi:dɪən ] …   Universal-Lexikon

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