funny

Less common meanings

4. 4
   unwelladjectivecolloquial

   Mildly unwell or out of sorts, frequently with no obvious explanation.

   She started feeling funny and a bit dizzy halfway through her shift, so she went home early.

   The new medication made him feel funny, so his doctor switched him to something else.

   UsageUsually after feel: I feel funny, my stomach feels funny. Before a noun it usually means amusing or strange.

   Similarunwell

   Oppositewell, fine

   Note

   The vagueness is the point: people say they feel funny when they cannot yet name the symptom, a little dizzy, a little sick, not quite themselves.

5. 5
   comic stripnouncolloquialcountable

   A comic strip, especially one printed in a newspaper.

   The kids fought over who got to read the funnies first.

   When our local paper cut the funnies down to a single page, readers wrote in by the hundreds to complain.

   UsageMostly plural: the funnies, the Sunday funnies.

   Similarcomic, cartoon, strip

   Note

   The funnies, and above all the Sunday funnies, means the comics section as a whole, while a funny is a single strip such as "The Ryatts." In 1974, The New York Times Magazine could call Chic Young's "Blondie" a "funny funny," playing the noun against the adjective.

6. 6
   jokenouncolloquialcountable

   A joke or witty remark.

   He told a few funnies to lighten the mood before the bad news.

   Everyone groaned at the pun, and he grinned and said he was only making a funny.

   UsageOften with make or crack: make a funny. Joke is the more usual word.

   Similarjoke, gag, quip, wisecrack

7. 7
   unfriendlyadjectivecolloquialIrelandUK

   Showing unexpected resentment or unfriendliness.

   He went all funny with me after I forgot his birthday.

   There's no need to get funny about it. I only asked.

   UsageGet funny about something or go funny with someone. Said of someone else, it sounds a little reproachful.

   Similarhuffy, touchy, cold

   Note

   A British and Irish colloquialism that turns on a small preposition. In Sarah Webb's It Had To Be You (2004), a character worries someone "might be funny about it."

8. 8
   humornouninformalironicuncountable

   Humor; the quality of being amusing.

   The script has clever ideas, but the actors never quite find the funny in it.

   He kept waiting for the funny, but the story just went nowhere.

   UsageUsually the funny: find the funny in it, where's the funny? In ordinary writing, humor or the joke is clearer.

   Similarhumor, comedy

   Note

   Here an adjective has been turned into a noun, in the playful manner of internet slang: where's the funny?, finally, the funny.

9. 9
   adjectivederogatoryoffensiveJamaica

   An offensive term describing someone as gay or homosexual.

   After rumors spread that he was dating a man, the older guys at the gym started calling him funny and leaving him out.

   He never brought his boyfriend to work parties, afraid the men there would start saying he was funny.

   Note

   This is a Jamaican slur, and one to recognize rather than use: it labels someone as gay with open hostility. Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock" (2005) describes such a man being cast off without a second thought, which shows the contempt it carries. Because the word ordinarily means "strange" or "odd", an outsider can miss the insult. When it is applied to a person in Jamaican speech, the context tells you whether the hostile reading is intended.

10. 10
    adverbderogatoryoffensiveJamaica

    In a way derogatorily taken to suggest that someone is gay.

    Nuff boy move funny just fi get money.

    2018, Jah Lando, Money Hard

    Dem nuh waan nuh honey, dem only waan di money. Dat’s how me know seh dem bwoy deh all a move funny.

    2002, Sean Paul, “Like Glue”

    Note

    The adverbial form of the Jamaican slur, heard in the phrase move funny, which accuses a man of acting gay. Sean Paul's "Like Glue" (2001) and Jah Lando's "Money Hard" (2018) both use it. It condemns through mannerism and stereotype, so treat it as offensive. The "strangely" adverb carries no such charge. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Sean Paul's “Like Glue” uses move funny in the stated derogatory sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • “Like Glue” was originally released in 2001; it appeared on Dutty Rock in 2002. en.wikipedia.org
    • Jah Lando's “Money Hard” was released in 2018. music.apple.com
    • Jah Lando's “Money Hard” uses move funny in the stated derogatory sense. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    rowing boatnoundatedIrelandUKcountable

    A narrow rowing boat built for sculling, tapered at both ends and made with overlapping planks.

    We were going to have a go in one of the double scull ‘funnies’ that could be had from the Rowing Club in the harbour, but he is off up the line tomorrow to rejoin his old Battery.

    1971, Julian Tyndale-Biscoe, Gunner Subaltern

    Note

    A rower's word with its own history, perhaps a jocular use of the ordinary adjective. Letters from a Nobleman to His Son (1810) remembers the funnies at Eton as so unsteady that their single occupant had to balance like a canoeist. Patrick Wright's The River (1999) lists them alongside punts, skiffs, whiffs and randans. The name is now dated. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The boat name may derive from a jocular use of the ordinary adjective. en.wiktionary.org
    • Letters from a Nobleman to His Son was published in 1810. resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk
    • The book recalls one-person funnies at Eton whose occupants had to balance like canoeists. en.wiktionary.org
    • Patrick Wright wrote The River, published in 1999. patrickwright.net
    • The River lists funnies alongside punts, skiffs, whiffs and randans. en.wiktionary.org