Blyth

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Archaic or dialect term for being happy, merry, and in good spirits
2. Describing someone who is cheerful, glad, and full of gentle good humour in an old-fashioned way
3. Characterizing a person or mood as joyful and lighthearted, a usage now found mainly in older writing and northern English dialect

Etymology: Old English "blīþe" meant "gentle, kind, joyful, cheerful", and it is the ancestor of modern "blithe" as well as the surname Blyth. The surname has two sources: some families took it from places named with the word, while others were given it as a nickname for someone of a cheerful or gentle disposition. The sense has narrowed considerably over the centuries. In Old English the word covered a broad range of pleasant qualities, from gentleness of manner to general happiness, and it appears in texts as a warm description of people and of the mood of a place. Today "blithe" survives mostly in phrases that sound slightly careless, such as "blithe indifference," where the cheerfulness has shifted toward a lack of concern.

Synonyms: merry, cheerful, glad, joyous

Antonyms: sad, gloomy