funnyman
UK[ˈfʌn.i.mæn]US[ˈfʌn.i.mæn]
n
a man whose job is to tell jokes and make people laugh; a male comedian or comic entertainer.
Morpheme Breakdown
funny
man
funny
amusing
man
male person
Etymology
the compound 'funnyman' is a transparent english formation from the adjective 'funny' and the noun 'man'. 'funny' itself evolved from the middle english 'funi', related to 'fun', which originally denoted a trick or hoax before acquiring its modern sense of amusement. 'man' has a stable history from old english, denoting an adult male human. when combined, the term literally means 'a man who is funny', directly describing a male performer specializing in comedy. this straightforward compounding reflects a common pattern in english for creating agent nouns that describe a person's primary characteristic or role.
Analysis
Structure: funny (amusing) + man (male person)
funny (from middle english 'funi', meaning 'foolish, full of fun', of germanic origin; serves as the descriptive adjective stem). man (from old english 'mann', meaning 'person, human being', of germanic origin; serves as the noun head, specifying gender and agent).
Examples
the veteran funnyman had the audience in stitches with his witty observations.
he started his career as a street performer before becoming a successful television funnyman.
behind the scenes, the famous funnyman was known to be quite a serious and private individual.