funny

Funny is an English adjective most commonly used to describe something that provokes laughter or amusement, such as a funny joke, a funny movie, or a funny story. In everyday use, the term implies a light, entertaining quality and often indicates a positive reception of humor. The sense can apply to people, performances, situations, or content that observers find entertaining, surprising, or delightfully quirky.

Beyond humor, funny can mean odd, strange, or suspicious in informal speech, as in funny business, a funny smell, or a funny idea. This meaning derives from a broader sense of "unusual" or "remarkable" rather than "comic." The same word thus bridges two opposite poles of experience: something to laugh at and something to notice as unusual.

Historically, funny also carried connotations of foolishness or oddness. The modern sense of "causing laughter" emerged in the 18th century, with the "odd/unusual" sense persisting in some dialects. The distinction between humorous and funny is often subtle and context-dependent.

From a linguistic and cultural perspective, what is funny depends on context, culture, and individual experience. Theories of humor identify mechanisms such as incongruity (surprising mismatches between expectations and reality), exaggeration, wordplay, and timing. Humor material can include jokes, anecdotes, satire, or physical comedy; media use often relies on cultural references and shared knowledge. See also: humor, comedy, joke, satire.