drôle

Drôle is a French adjective meaning funny, amusing, or comical, and it can also describe something odd or strange. It is used to refer to people, situations, or things that provoke laughter or lighthearted amusement, as in un film drôle or une histoire drôle. The sense can extend to oddity as in un drôle de personnage, meaning a peculiar or unusual character.

The expression drôle de is a common nominal construction that emphasizes peculiarity or surprise, roughly translating to “a strange sort of” or “a peculiar.” For example, C’était un drôle de choix can mean “That was a strange/odd choice.” Grammatically, drôle has the same form for masculine and feminine singular, and it uses the plural drôles in both masculine and feminine plural (des personnes drôles). The adverb drôlement meaning “quite, very” is used colloquially to intensify an adjective or verb, as in il est drôlement intelligent (he is very smart).

Nouns related to the concept include drôlerie, which denotes the quality of being funny or whimsical, or something that is amusingly odd. In English-language contexts, drôle is sometimes translated as “droll” or “funny,” though the English term “droll” carries its own slightly archaic tone.

Origin and cognates: drôle derives from Old French drol, drolle, meaning merry or pleasant, and is cognate with the English word droll.