gaiety

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Middle French gaieté, from gai. By surface analysis, gay +‎ -ety. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈɡeɪ.ə.ti/, /ˈɡeɪ.ɪ.ti/ Hyphenation: gai‧e‧ty Rhymes: -eɪɪti === Noun === gaiety (countable and uncountable, plural gaieties) (dated, uncountable) The state of being happy or merry. Synonyms: gayfulness, gayness; see also Thesaurus:happiness (dated, countable) Merrymaking or festivity. ==== Usage notes ==== Gaiety is not used to refer to sexual orientation, the word for which is gayness. Despite this, gaiety has largely fallen out of use due to the adjective gay's semantic shift in that direction. ==== Synonyms ==== (state of being happy): gayness ==== Translations ==== === References ===