What does drollery mean?
Drollery denotes a quality of amusing, whimsical, or wry humour — the sort of dry, understated comedy that makes people smile rather than laugh out loud. A speaker known for their drollery delivers remarks that are quietly funny, eccentric, or deadpan. The word also has an artistic sense: a drollery (plural drolleries) is a comic or grotesque figure, such as the fantastical animals, hybrid creatures, and absurd scenes medieval artists painted in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, apparently for the sheer delight of it. Derived from 'droll', meaning oddly amusing, drollery entered English in the early seventeenth century via French 'drole' (or 'drôle'), ultimately from Middle Dutch. Today the term is chiefly literary, lending a refined tone to descriptions of wit in writing, conversation, or performance, and it remains the standard art-historical label for marginal comic imagery in Gothic books.
Amusing, whimsical, or wry humour; the quality of being droll.
"Her essays are distinguished by a light touch of drollery."
Chiefly literary in register.
A comical or grotesque figure or drawing, especially one decorating the margin of a medieval manuscript.
"Illuminated psalters often contain drolleries of hares hunting men and knights battling snails."
The plural is used mainly for the second sense — individual comic figures or drawings — rather than for the abstract quality of humour, which is normally uncountable.
"The manuscript's margins are crowded with drolleries of monsters and musicians."
Medieval monks whiled away the tedium of copying manuscripts by doodling rabbits jousting on snails in the margins — and those little jokes have a name: drollery.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of drollery
Drollery comes from the adjective 'droll' combined with the suffix '-ery'. It entered English in the early seventeenth century, borrowed from French 'drolerie', which derives from 'drole' ('drôle'), meaning a funny fellow or buffoon. The French word itself traces back through Middle Dutch to 'dolle' meaning mad or playful. English cognates include the adjectives 'droll' and its derivatives 'drolly' and 'drollness', all from the same source.
Related word forms
How drollery is actually used
Drollery is a somewhat literary or formal word; it rarely appears in casual conversation. The plural 'drolleries' is common specifically for the sense referring to individual comic figures or drawings in medieval art. The word carries a connotation of understated, often dry or eccentric amusement rather than loud comedy.
Easily confused with drollery
Drudgery means tedious, exhausting work, whereas drollery means humorous or whimsical amusement — the similar spelling belies opposite meanings.