Borrowed from French jovial, from Italian gioviale, from Latin ioviālis, from Iuppiter, Iovis (from Proto-Indo-European *dyew-) + -ālis; analysable as Jove + -ial.

Sense 1 (“cheerful and good-humoured”) refers to the fact that individuals born under the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter were believed to have that disposition.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/
• (America) IPA: /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.vɪ.əl/
• (Appalachians, archaic) IPA: /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.vəl/

jovial

1. (comparable) Cheerful and good-humoured; jolly, merry.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:happy

   Antonyms: saturnine, Thesaurus:sad

   • 1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC ↗; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London: [s.n.], 1870], →OCLC ↗, page 161 ↗:

     A melancholy boddy is not the kindeſt nurſe for a chearely minde, (the joviall complexion is ſoverainly beholding to nature,) […]

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Democritvs Ivnior to the Reader”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, page 57 ↗:

     The moſt ſecure, happy, Ioviall & merry in the worlds eſteeme, are Princes & great men, free from melancholy, but for their cares, miſeries, ſuſpicions, Iealoſies, diſcontents, folly, & madneſſe, I referre you to Xenophons Tyrannus, where king Hieron diſcourſeth at large with Simonides the Poet, of this ſubject.

   • 1711 March 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, March 2, 1710–1711”, in The Spectator, number 2; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗, page 88 ↗:

     But being ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he grew careless of himself, and never dressed afterwards.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, pages 154–155 ↗:

     Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!

   • 1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Lord Grenville’s Ball”, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC ↗, page 115 ↗:

     A long, jovial, inane laugh broke the sudden silence which had fallen over everyone.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, page 267 ↗:

     She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.

2. (not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see sense 1).

• Jove
• Jovial
• Jovian

• French: jovial
• German: jovial, fröhlich, heiter
• Portuguese: jovial
• Russian: весёлый
• Spanish: jovial, alegre

See jovial.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/
• (America) IPA: /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.vɪ.əl/

jovial (not comparable)

1. (astronomy, obsolete) Pertaining to the planet Jupiter; Jovian.
2. (Roman mythology, obsolete) Pertaining to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (the counterpart of the Greek god Zeus), the god of the sky and thunder and the king of the gods; Jovian.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene ii], page 390 ↗, column 1:

     I know the ſhape of's Legge: this is his Hand: / His Foote Mercuriall: his martiall Thigh / The brawnes of Hercules: but his Iouiall face— / Murther in heaven?

jovial (plural jovials)

1. (chiefly, science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Jupiter; a Jovian.