humor and humour are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. humor means “a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter”. humour means “a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling”. humor is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈhjumɚ/
1.n.a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
2.n.the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous
“she didn't appreciate my humor”
3.n.a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
“whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time”
| humor | humour | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈhjumɚ/ | /ˈhjumɚ/ |
| Said | HYOO-mur | HYOO-mur |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| Letters | 5 | 6 |
| Parts of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Senses | 7 | 7 |
| How common | Common | Familiar |
| Synonyms | wit, humour, witticism | temper, mood, humor |
Full entry for humor · Full entry for humour · More comparisons
/ˈhjumɚ/
1.n.a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
“whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time”
2.n.a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
3.n.(Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state
“the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile”