What does jole mean?
Jole is an uncommon English word with two principal noun senses. In Scots usage it means joy, pleasure, or gladness; in older dialectal English it denotes a lump or mass of something. These meanings are not simply interchangeable: the Scottish sense carries the associations of happiness and festivity, while the dialectical noun describes a physical quantity or mass. An archaic verb form, now rarely met with, means to rejoice or take pleasure. Because the word is regional and literary rather than standard modern English, its appearance often signals a Scots text or an older source. The compact one-syllable word nevertheless remains useful for readers of historical prose, dialect writing, and literature, because it preserves both a vivid Scots vocabulary for delight and a bygone English sense of a solid physical lump. Outside those contexts, however, modern speakers are more likely to use joy or lump.
In Scots usage, joy, pleasure, or gladness; in older dialectal English, a lump or mass of something.
"There was much jole when the old neighbours met again."
The Scottish sense is usually uncountable; the dialectal physical sense is countable.
To rejoice or take pleasure.
"They joled together until the bells rang."
This use is archaic or strongly dialectal and is not part of standard modern English.
The regular plural is used for the countable dialectal sense meaning a lump or mass; the sense meaning joy is normally uncountable.
"The frozen mud came away from the path in two heavy joles."
Scots jole means joy, while the same spelling carries an older dialectal sense of a lump or mass.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does jole come from?
The joy-related strand of jole passed through Middle English from Old French joie, ultimately deriving from Latin gaudium. English joy and French joie are cognates, while enjoy and jocund also continue the same Latin root. The dialectal sense for a lump or mass has a separate and less transparent history.
Related word forms
How jole is actually used
The word is uncommon in standard modern English and is chiefly associated with Scottish usage, British regional dialects, and older literature. The sense meaning joy is generally used as an uncountable noun, while the older sense for a physical lump is countable in dialectal usage.
Easily confused with jole
Jole can mean a lump or mass and, in Scots usage, joy, whereas a jowl is the jaw or fleshy part of the cheek beneath it.