risible

The word 'risible' has a direct lineage from the Latin verb ridēre, meaning 'to laugh'. The past participle stem ris- was combined with the adjectival suffix -ibilis, which denotes capability or susceptibility, to form the Late Latin term risibilis. This term was adopted into Middle English via Anglo-French, carrying the literal sense of 'able to laugh'. Over time, its primary meaning in English shifted from the capacity to laugh to describing something that provokes laughter, thus linking the ancient action of laughing to the modern quality of being laughable or ludicrous.

Structure: ris (laugh) + ible (capable of) ris originates from Latin risus, the past participle of ridēre meaning 'to laugh'. ible is a suffix from Latin -ibilis, meaning 'capable of, able to be'.