zany
/ˈzeɪni
/adjective (zanier, zaniest)
Amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic: his zany humour...
- His zany humour took comedy to new heights of absurdity.
- We both liked making costumes and had a similarly zany sense of humour.
- For those with a zany sense of humor, the adventures of Lieutenant Frank Drebin were a laugh riot from beginning to end.
Synonyms
eccentric, bizarre, weird, peculiar, odd, quirky, avant-garde, unconventional, off-centre, strange, outlandish, ridiculous, ludicrous;
mad, insane, crazy, absurd, comic, comical, clownish, farcical, madcap, silly, light-hearted, funny, amusing, chucklesome, diverting, waggish, hilarious
informal wacky, screwy, nutty, nuts, crackpot, cracked, oddball, cranky, kinky, off the wall, way out, dippy, cuckoo
British informal daft
North American informal kooky, wacko, in left field
Australian/New Zealand informal, dated dilly
noun
1A zany person.We are looking for the zany, the serious, the artistic and ridiculous....
- I love students, what a zany, crazy bunch they are.
1.1 historical A comic performer partnering a clown, whom he imitated in an amusing way.
Derivatives
zanily
zaniness
- It often thinks wackiness or zaniness is a virtue.
- Surely this is British zaniness at its very best.
- While rumors of alcoholism and overall zaniness have circulated in the press, I think this just adds to Lula's mystique.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French zani or Italian zan(n)i, Venetian form of Gianni, Giovanni 'John', stock name of the servants acting as clowns in the commedia dell'arte.
Zany was the name of one of the servants in the improvized Italian theatre, the commedia dell'arte, popular from the 16th to 18th centuries. The word is a Venetian form of Gianni, which itself is short for Giovanni. In its earliest uses in English a zany was a comic performer who imitated the actions of a clown or acrobat, and zany described his behaviour. See also pantaloons