Etymology

glee

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Today it means: Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune. Full definition →

Middle English gle ← Old English glēo ← Proto-West Germanic *glīw
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glee · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰlew-“to joke, make fun, enjoy”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*glīwą“joy, mirth”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*glīw
  4. Old English · inherited fromglēo
  5. Middle English · inherited fromgle
  6. English todayglee

From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”). Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew (“game, play, sport, mirth, joy, rejoicing, entertainment, melody, music”), Icelandic glý (“joy, glee, gladness”), Ancient Greek χλεύη (khleúē, “joke, jest, scorn”). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.

glee · verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*glīwōną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*glīwōn
  3. Old English · inherited fromglēowian“to sing, play an instrument, jest”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgleen
  5. English todayglee

From Middle English gleen, glewen, from Old English glēowian (“to sing, play an instrument, jest”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīwōn, from Proto-Germanic *glīwōną. Cognate with Icelandic glýja (“to be gleeful”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.