joke
n. countablen. something someone says or does to make people laugh. It is usually a short story with a funny ending.
n. a short narrative or remark intended to provoke laughter or amusement, typically concluding with a punchline.
He told a funny joke at dinner.
The comedian told a joke about his childhood that made the entire audience laugh.
While the joke relied on a clever play on words, its success was largely due to the speaker's impeccable timing and deadpan delivery.
From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.
Often used with the verbs 'tell', 'make', or 'crack'.
He said a funny joke.He told a funny joke.In English, you 'tell' a joke rather than 'say' it.