Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Clown |
ClownNoun1. A rude or vulgar fool. 2. A person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior. Verb1. Act as or like a clown. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "clown" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Occupations | Dresses in comical costume and makeup and performs original or stock comedy routines to entertain audience. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Clowning is a very ancient art form, which appears in some way or other in virtually every culture. An early form of clowns was the court jester, a role that can be traced back to ancient Egypt. Though most jesters suffered from some physical deformity and were often the butt of jokes, they were also the only courtiers who enjoyed free speech, and could speak their minds to the monarch. Usually...
Each individual circus clown has the informal right to a costume and makeup that may not be infringed by other clowns. Despite no enforcement through intellectual property laws, this right is always respected, and even extended to individual routines and acts. All clowns (at least in Britain) have their faces painted onto eggshells and no two eggs can be alike.
There are several different types of clowns, including:
The word clown comes from words meaning "clot" or "clod" which came also to mean "clumsy fellow", according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
See also: Commedia dell'arte
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Clown."
Synonyms: ClownSynonyms: buffoon (n), merry andrew (n), antic (v), clown around (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Commonalty | Peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl; villain, villein; terrae filius; serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah; longshoreman; swain, clown, hind; clod, clodhopper; hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin; plowman, plowboy; rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil; hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling; gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling; gamin; rough; pot-wallopper, slubberdegullion; vulgar fellow, low fellow; cad, curmudgeon. |
Humorist | Buffoon, farceur, merry-andrew, mime, tumbler, acrobat, mountebank, charlatan, posturemaster, harlequin, punch, pulcinella, scaramouch, clown; wearer of the cap and bells, wearer of the motley; motley fool; pantaloon, gypsy; jack-pudding, jack in the green, jack a dandy; wiseacre, wise guy, smartass; fool. |
The Drama | Actor, thespian, player; method actor; stage player, strolling player; stager, performer; mime, mimer; artists; comedian, tragedian; tragedienne, Roscius; star, movie star, star of stage and screen, superstar, idol, sex symbol; supporting actor, supporting cast; ham, hamfatter; masker. pantomimist, clown harlequin, buffo, buffoon, farceur, grimacer, pantaloon, columbine; punchinello; pulcinello, pulcinella; extra, bit-player, walk-on role, cameo appearance; mute, figurante, general utility; super, supernumerary. |
Vulgarity | Rough diamond, tomboy, hoyden, cub, unlicked cub; clown; (commonalty); Goth, Vandal, Boeotian; snob, cad, gent; parvenu; frump, dowdy; slattern. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Clown |
| English words defined with "clown": amuse, antic ♦ buffoonery, buffoonish ♦ clowlike, clown around, Clownage, clowning, clownish, Clownishness, Cudden ♦ Emmett Kelly ♦ fool, frivolity ♦ Goff ♦ harlequin, harlequinade ♦ jack-in-the-box, jester ♦ Kelly, Knuff ♦ lipstick ♦ Marceau, Marcel Marceau ♦ prank ♦ Weary Willie, whiteface ♦ zany. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "clown": Atellanæ ♦ bozotic, Buffoons ♦ CLOUTED SHOON ♦ Fools ♦ Gautier, Gobbo, Gonin ♦ HIGH SHOON, HOB, HOBBINOL ♦ INFALAPSARIAN ♦ JESTER ♦ LOON, LOUT ♦ Olivia ♦ We Three ♦ Zany. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "clown": Clownage. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Clown" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (buffoon, clown, jester), French (clown, knock about), German (buffoon, clown), Italian (clown), Spanish (clown), Swedish (clown, merry andrew, pantaloon). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Once a year we turn all paris upside down. Ev'ry man's a king and ev'ry king's a clown! Once again it's Topsy Turvy Day (The Hunchback of Notre Dame; writing credit: Victor Hugo; Irene Mecchi) Have you seen a clown fish swim by (Finding Nemo; writing credit: Andrew Stanton) Yeah I call him Flushles, the Toilet Cleaning Clown (Dead Man on Campus; writing credit: Anthony Abrams; Adam Larson Broder) The clown is down (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) People say, You must have been the class clown. And I say, No, I wasn't (Waiting for Guffman; writing credit: Christopher Guest; Eugene Levy) | |
Lyrics | Did you ever hear of a clown with teardrops (Pop A Top; performing artist: Alan Jackson) Standing in the cold rain, feeling like a clown (IT'S A HEARTACHE; performing artist: BONNIE TYLER) Hide behind your smile, all the world loves a clown (Take A Bow; performing artist: Madonna) I'll find somebody, who won't make me feel like a clown (Evil Ways; performing artist: Santana) And when I'm sad, you're a clown ("I Got You Babe"; performing artist: Sonny & Cher) | |
Tongue Twisters | A laurel-crowned clown! (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Day the Clown Cried (1972) Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family (1972) To Kill a Clown (1972) Clown Face (1971) Johnny Peer's Clown Face (1971) | |
Song Titles | Tears of A Clown (performing artist: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles) Cathy's Clown (performing artist: The Everly Brothers) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Two-banded clown fish - Amphiprion bicinctus. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |  | Boy peering through wall chink at clown with circus. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Do you know,-- I'd rather be a boy, said the clown. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Brumbaugh balancing clown holding barrels of rum and Standard Oil on tightrope of "public opinion" being frayed by "Anti-Penrose sentiment". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Couple at fair looking at a clown and a bell ringer. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Circus scene showing a man (magician?) standing on a table holding a curtain, standing to the right is a clown with a horn, on the left a man is balancing on one foot on a moving horse while another performer stands nearby, the audience stands in the back. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Titta Ruffo, half-length portrait, facing front, as a clown. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Clown at July 4th celebration in Salisbury, Maryland. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Clown rider at rodeo at Quemado, New Mexico. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Circus clown and elephant. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Goofy, fake clown laugh. | | Circus clown music. |
| Clown sound effect for pretending to drop something which is connected to a string and recovered. | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Lord Alfred Tennyson | By blood a king, in heart a clown. |
Wisdom and The Chinese | Without the wisdom of the learned; the clown could not be governed; without the labor of the clown; the learned could not be fed. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | JESTER, n. An officer formerly attached to a king's household, whose business it was to amuse the court by ludicrous actions and utterances, the absurdity being attested by his motley costume. The king himself being attired with dignity, it took the world some centuries to discover that his own conduct and decrees were sufficiently ridiculous for the amusement not only of his court but of all mankind. The jester was commonly called a fool, but the poets and romancers have ever delighted to represent him as a singularly wise and witty person. In the circus of to-day the melancholy ghost of the court fool effects the dejection of humbler audiences with the same jests wherewith in life he gloomed the marble hall, panged the patrician sense of humor and tapped the tank of royal tears. The widow-queen of Portugal Had an audacious jester Who entered the confessional Disguised, and there confessed her. "Father," she said, "thine ear bend down -- My sins are more than scarlet: I love my fool -- blaspheming clown, And common, base-born varlet." "Daughter," the mimic priest replied, "That sin, indeed, is awful: The church's pardon is denied To love that is unlawful. "But since thy stubborn heart will be For him forever pleading, Thou'dst better make him, by decree, A man of birth and breeding." She made the fool a duke, in hope With Heaven's taboo to palter; Then told a priest, who told the Pope, Who damned her from the altar! Barel Dort |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Clown" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 87.81% of the time. "Clown" is used about 320 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 87.81% | 281 | 17,410 |
| Noun (proper) | 8.13% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2.5% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.56% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 320 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "clown": clown anemone fish ♦ clown around. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "clown": clown-chasing, clown-like, clown-scenes, clown-size, clown-white. | |
Ending with "clown": half-clown, villain-clown. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
clown | 3,940 | send in the clown | 96 |
insane clown posse | 3,569 | clown pic | 89 |
clown fish | 2,280 | clown loach | 83 |
clown costume | 1,336 | clipart clown | 80 |
clown make up | 745 | circus clown | 80 |
clown wig | 695 | killer clown | 79 |
clown figurine | 648 | clown shoes | 75 |
clown picture | 431 | clown yucko | 69 |
insane clown posse lyrics | 316 | clown supply | 66 |
evil clown | 271 | krusty the clown | 58 |
picture of insane clown posse | 202 | clown clip art | 58 |
clown tattoo | 178 | clown picture scary | 57 |
scary clown | 174 | clown insane posse.com | 57 |
insane clown posse pic | 132 | insane clown | 54 |
bozo the clown | 128 | clown insane posse wallpaper | 52 |
clown face | 127 | clown photo | 51 |
clown fish picture | 119 | insane clown possie | 51 |
clown pennywise | 116 | clown school | 51 |
rodeo clown | 100 | clown it | 48 |
evil clown picture | 97 | party clown | 47 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "clown"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | nar (buffoon, jester). (various references) | |
Albanian | sillem si klloun (buffoon), klloun (buffoon, cutup, merry andrew), gaztor. (various references) | |
Arabic | مهرج (buffoon, harlequin, jester, joker), مضحك (buffoon, burlesque, comedian, comic, comical, comics, droll, farcical, foolish, funny, harlequin, humorous, jester, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, merry andrew, ridiculous, risible, silly, wag), تصرف كمهرج, الفلاح (peasant, ploughman, swain, yokel), الفظ (churl, swab), الجلف (impolite, slob, villain, yokel), بهلوان (acrobat, aerialist, clowning, contortionist, histrion, ropewalker, tumbler). (various references) | |
Basque | pailaso. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | селяндур (bumpkin, clod-poll, haw-buck, hayseed, rube, yap, yokel), клоун (funnyman, harlequin, mountebank, punchinello, the vice, zany), грубиян (abuser, bohunk, boor, bulldozer, chuff, churl, hottentot, larrikin, rough, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, savage, yap), правя се на шут, палячо (buffoon, fool, goon, jester, tomfool, zany). (various references) | |
Chinese | 小丑 . (various references) | |
Czech | klaun (buffoon), šašek (antics, fool, jester, merry andrew, mimic, squirt, zany). (various references) | |
Danish | klovn. (various references) | |
Dutch | pias, paljas, clown (buffoon, jester). (various references) | |
Esperanto | klaŭno. (various references) | |
Faeroese | gekkur, fívil (buffoon, jester). (various references) | |
Farsi | مقلد (Imitator, Zany), مسخره (Dult, Fool, Hobbyhorse, Irony, Jeer, Mockery, Mower, Rustic, Sikt, Spoof, Witticism, Zany), مسخرگی کردن (Buffoon, Mimic), لوده (Buffoon, Fool, Hobbyhorse, Zany), دلقک شدن . (various references) | |
Finnish | pelleillä (lark about), pelle (lark about), pajatso (buffoon, coin machine), narri (fool), ilveilijä (jester). (various references) | |
French | clown. (various references) | |
German | clown (buffoon), trottel (blithering idiot, booby, dolt, dope, dumbbell, idiot, jerk, lubbers, moron, mug, nana, nincompoop, ninny, oaf, rube, sap, schmuck, softies, sucker, twit, Wally, zombie), spaßmacher (jester, joker), possenreißer (buffoon, buffoons, mome, momes), kasperle (fool, punch), kasper (fool, punch), idiot (basket, blockhead, cretin, doofus, drip, goon, idiot, imbecile, ninny, numskull, twit, zombie), herumkaspern, herumblödeln (clown around, lark about, lark around, mess about, mess around, muck about, muck around, play), hanswurst (buffoon, fool, harlequin, jester, pantaloon, tomfool, zany), Faxenmacher (clowns), den clown spielen. (various references) | |
Greek | κλόουν. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מוקיון (buffoon, harlequin, stooge, zany), מ'ושם (awkward, burly, clumsy, gawky, gross, hulking, uncouth, ungainly, unwieldy), ליצן (buffoon, droll, fool, harlequin, jack-pudding, jester, scoffer, wag, zany), קומיקן (comedian). (various references) | |
Hungarian | bohóc (buffoon, droll, funny man, funnyman, harlequin, merry andrew, pierrot, zany), faragatlan ember (backwoodsman, backwoodsmen, clod-hopper, dimwit, hick, loon, pig, yob, yobbo). (various references) | |
Indonesian | banyol (comedian, jester, joker, rascal, wag), badut (buffoon, harlequin, jester). (various references) | |
Italian | clown, pagliaccio (buffoon, zany), buffone (buffoon, droll, fool, jester, joker, zany). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "化役者 , "舎者 (bumpkin, hick, person from the country, provincial person), "アノ線 (atomic bomb, piano wire, picador, picaresque, Picasso, piccata, piggyback, pioneer), いなか者 (bumpkin, hick, person from the country, provincial person). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | "エロ , どうけやくしゃ, いなかもの (bumpkin, hick, person from the country, provincial person). (various references) | |
Malay | badut (buffoon, jester). (various references) | |
Manx | jannoo gowranys, jannoo bonkanys, jannoo aittys (sporting), gowran (lout), fer aitt (comedian, quiz), bonkan (buffoon, bumpkin, crackpot, mug, rustic). (various references) | |
Maya | chiik. (various references) | |
Mohawk | attsihstohkwa. (various references) | |
Occitan | palhassa. (various references) | |
Papiamen | payaso. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ownclay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | rústico (backwoods, boor, boorish, bumbling, bumpkin, chuff, churl, churlish, cloddish, clodhopper, countrified, lob, loutish, low-bred, lubber, mucker, peasant, rude, rural, rustic, rustical, uncouth, underbred, yokel), palhaço (antic, buffoon, joker, lout, merry andrew, mime, mountebank, scaramouch), grosseirão (mucker, ribald), fazer palhaçadas, bufo (buffoon, comedian, comic, comical, funny, owl), bufão (boaster, buffoon), bobo (buffoon, droll, fool, goof, gull, half-wit, idiot, imbecile, jerk, jester, lout, merry andrew, ninny, ninny-hammer, pantaloon, scaramouch, silly, stupid, zany). (various references) | |
Romanian | clovn (buffoon, fool, harlequin, mime, pantaloon), mitocan (boor, cad, mobbish, rustic), mãscãrici (antic, jester), irod (buffoon), face pe clovnul, bãdãran (bearish, boor, bumpkin, cad, churl, churlish, curmudgeon, hawbuck, hind, lout, oaf, peasant, rough, yokel), ţãran (boor, churl, cottager, countryman, moujik, peasant, rustic). (various references) | |
Russian | шут (buffoon, droll, fool, harlequin, jester, man of motley, merry andrew, mountebank, tomfool, zany), клоун (harlequin), паясничать клоун, паяц (dancer at shows), дурачиться (caper, cut a caper, cut capers, fool about, fool around, monkey). (various references) | |
Scottish | balach (boy, fellow, lad). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | klovn (merry andrew), izmotavati se (carry on, mop and mow). (various references) | |
Spanish | payaso (buffoon). (various references) | |
Swedish | tölp (boor, churl, clod, clodhopper, clodpoll, gawk, lout, lubber, lummox, yokel), pajas (buffoon, zany), clown (merry andrew, pantaloon). (various references) | |
Turkish | palyaço (buffoon, harlequin, pierrot, zany). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | селюк (boor, bush-whacker, chuff, churl, gawky, red-neck, rustic, yahoo, yokel), клоун (buffoon), неотесаний хлопець (bumpkin), блазнювати (tomfool), блазень (antic, aper, banana, buffoon, harlequin, jester, motley, mountebank, owl-glass, tomfool, zany). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vai hề người quê mùa người thô lỗ, người mất dạy, anh hề (buffoon, jack pudding, merry andrew, mime). (various references) | |
Welsh | lleban (lubber). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Balistes capriscus, Balistes carolinensis, colonus, fossor, maccus. (various references) |
| Italian | 900-Modern | zani, zanni. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "clown": clowned, clowneries, clownery, clowning, clownish, clownishly, clownishness, clownishnesses, clowns. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "clown": beclown. (additional references) | |
Words containing "clown": beclowned, beclowning, beclowns. (additional references) | |
| |
"Clown" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: chown, Cilgwyn, clawn, clewn, cloin, clon, clonb, clow, clowan, clowd, clowna, clowne, clowny, Clwyn, Collwn, Colwin, cown, cownt, cylon, klon, Kluwin, lown, Mccown, slown. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "clown" (pronounced klou"n) |
| 3 | -l ou" n | lown. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-l-n-o-w" | |
-1 letter: clon, cowl, lown. | |
-2 letters: col, con, cow, low, now, owl, own, won. | |
-3 letters: lo, no, on, ow, wo. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-l-n-o-w" | |
+1 letter: clowns. | |
+2 letters: beclown, clowned, cowling. | |
+3 letters: beclowns, clownery, clowning, clownish, cooldown, cowlings, lockdown, scowling. | |
+4 letters: allowance, beclowned, clampdown, closedown, cooldowns, crownless, downscale, lancewood, lockdowns, unwelcome, welcoming. | |
+5 letters: allowanced, allowances, beclowning, callowness, candlewood, clampdowns, closedowns, clowneries, clownishly, commonweal, coneflower, cornflower, downscaled, downscales, lancewoods, scowlingly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
