Skip to content

humour

humour, sense of humour

noun oo-MOOR Less Common

Origin: Latin 'humor' (moisture, bodily fluid)

Usage Note

Humour begins with a silent (mute) h, so elision applies: l'humour, not le humour. Avoir le sens de l'humour is 'to have a sense of humour'. Humour noir ('black humour') and humour absurde are popular genres. The comedic sense was borrowed from English in the 18th century.

Examples

"Il a un humour très particulier."

Natural Translation

He has a very particular sense of humour.

Explore French by topic