😂 Humour Vocabulary

Part 1: Humour Collocations

Collocations are words that naturally go together. Native speakers use these combinations automatically!

Collocation	Example	Meaning
good sense of humour	"She has a good sense of humour."	Ability to appreciate jokes
dry humour	"I love his dry humour."	Subtle, deadpan comedy
wicked sense of humour	"He has a wicked sense of humour!"	Mischievous, naughty humour
hilarious joke	"That was a hilarious joke!"	Extremely funny joke
practical joke	"They played a practical joke on him."	Physical trick or prank
sick joke	"That's a sick joke, not funny."	Offensive or tasteless joke

Collocation	Example
crack a joke	"He's always cracking jokes."
tell a joke	"Let me tell you a joke."
get a joke	"Did you get the joke?"
burst out laughing	"We burst out laughing at his story."
have a laugh	"We had a good laugh about it."

1. She has a great sense of . (humour/humor)

2. He's always jokes at work. (cracking/making)

3. That was a joke! (hilarious/funny)

4. I love British humour. (dry/wet)

5. We out laughing! (burst/broke)

Idioms are expressions with meanings different from the literal words. They make your English sound natural!

Pull someone's leg - Joke with someone
"I'm just pulling your leg, don't worry!"
Laugh your head off - Laugh a lot
"We laughed our heads off at the comedy show."
In stitches - Laughing uncontrollably
"His story had us in stitches!"
No laughing matter - Something serious
"Climate change is no laughing matter."
Have the last laugh - Be proven right in the end
"They mocked him, but he had the last laugh."
Laugh all the way to the bank - Make lots of money easily
"He's laughing all the way to the bank with that deal."
Barrel of laughs - Very funny person/thing
"The party was a barrel of laughs!"
Joke's on you - You're the victim of the joke
"You thought you tricked me? The joke's on you!"

1. "Stop pulling my !" (leg/arm)

2. "We were in watching that film!" (stitches/pieces)

3. "I laughed my off!" (head/face)

4. "This is no matter." (laughing/joking)

5. "He'll have the last ." (laugh/smile)

Phrasal verbs are verbs combined with prepositions or adverbs that create new meanings!

Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
laugh at	Find something funny	"Everyone laughed at his joke."
laugh off	Dismiss with humour	"He laughed off the criticism."
crack up	Start laughing	"I cracked up when I heard the story."
joke around	Act in a playful way	"Stop joking around and be serious!"
play on	Make a pun or wordplay	"That's a clever play on words!"
lighten up	Become less serious	"Come on, lighten up! It's just a joke."
mess around	Behave in a silly way	"We were just messing around."
wind up	Tease or trick someone	"Are you winding me up?"

Pull someone's leg is very common - use it when joking with friends

Wind up is British English - Americans say "mess with"

Crack up is informal - don't use it in formal situations!

1. Everyone at his funny story. (laughed/smiled)

2. Come on, up! It's just a joke. (lighten/cheer)

3. I up when I saw the meme. (cracked/broke)

4. Stop around and get to work! (joking/messing)

5. Are you me up? (winding/pulling)

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🎉 Well done! You've mastered humour vocabulary - now go have a laugh and practice!