"funny bone" meaning in English

See funny bone in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈfʌn.i boʊn/ [General-American], /ˈfʌn.i bəʊn/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: en-us-funny bone.ogg , en-au-funny bone.ogg Forms: funny bones [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} funny bone (plural funny bones)
  1. (idiomatic) The ulnar nerve in the elbow, which, when hit, causes a tingling sensation. Tags: idiomatic Translations (nerve): os de la música [masculine] (Catalan), brňavka [feminine] (Czech), telefoonbotje [neuter] (Dutch), stroombotje [neuter] (Dutch), kiukkusuoni (Finnish), kyynärhermo (Finnish), petit juif [masculine] (French), Musikantenknochen [masculine] (German), vitlausa beinið [neuter] (Icelandic), tuketuke (Māori), czułe miejsce w łokciu [neuter] (Polish), dirlie-bane (Scots), tjuvsena [common-gender] (Swedish), änkestöt (english: the occurrence of hitting one's funny bone) [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-funny_bone-en-noun-Vb1FUeRV Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 14 44 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 41 13 46 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 39 15 45 Disambiguation of 'nerve': 100 0 0
  2. (mnemonic) Nickname for the humerus, so named because of its being homophonic with "humorous". Tags: mnemonic Derived forms: tickle someone's funny bone
    Sense id: en-funny_bone-en-noun-VmwiVDFq Categories (other): English mnemonics, Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 14 44 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 41 13 46 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 39 15 45
  3. (figuratively) One's sense of humor. Tags: figuratively Translations (sense of humor): sentit de l'humor [masculine] (Catalan), lachspieren [plural] (Dutch), nauruhermo (Finnish), poczucie humoru [neuter] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-funny_bone-en-noun-uuRZOf9X Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Māori translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Scots translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 9 57 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 14 44 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 35 7 59 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 7 59 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 38 13 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 37 13 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 37 15 48 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 41 13 46 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 13 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 38 13 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Māori translations: 37 12 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 39 15 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Scots translations: 37 11 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 38 13 49 Disambiguation of 'sense of humor': 12 1 87

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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        "(idiomatic) The ulnar nerve in the elbow, which, when hit, causes a tingling sensation."
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "ca",
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          "word": "telefoonbotje"
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "nerve",
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            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Musikantenknochen"
        },
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "lang_code": "is",
          "sense": "nerve",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "vitlausa beinið"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "nerve",
          "word": "tuketuke"
        },
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "nerve",
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          "word": "czułe miejsce w łokciu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "sco",
          "lang": "Scots",
          "lang_code": "sco",
          "sense": "nerve",
          "word": "dirlie-bane"
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          "english": "the occurrence of hitting one's funny bone",
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          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "nerve",
          "tags": [
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          "translation": "the occurrence of hitting one's funny bone",
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        "(mnemonic) Nickname for the humerus, so named because of its being homophonic with \"humorous\"."
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        "One's sense of humor."
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      "id": "en-funny_bone-en-noun-uuRZOf9X",
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        "(figuratively) One's sense of humor."
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        {
          "_dis1": "12 1 87",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "lang_code": "ca",
          "sense": "sense of humor",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
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          "word": "sentit de l'humor"
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          "_dis1": "12 1 87",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
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          "sense": "sense of humor",
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            "plural"
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          "word": "lachspieren"
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          "code": "fi",
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          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "sense of humor",
          "word": "nauruhermo"
        },
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          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "sense of humor",
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            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "poczucie humoru"
        }
      ]
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      "ipa": "/ˈfʌn.i boʊn/",
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      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "nerve",
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      "word": "os de la música"
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      "sense": "nerve",
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      "sense": "nerve",
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      "sense": "nerve",
      "word": "kyynärhermo"
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      "sense": "nerve",
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      "word": "petit juif"
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      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "nerve",
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        "masculine"
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      "word": "Musikantenknochen"
    },
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      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "nerve",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "vitlausa beinið"
    },
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      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "nerve",
      "word": "tuketuke"
    },
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "nerve",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "czułe miejsce w łokciu"
    },
    {
      "code": "sco",
      "lang": "Scots",
      "lang_code": "sco",
      "sense": "nerve",
      "word": "dirlie-bane"
    },
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      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "nerve",
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        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "tjuvsena"
    },
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      "english": "the occurrence of hitting one's funny bone",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "nerve",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "translation": "the occurrence of hitting one's funny bone",
      "word": "änkestöt"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "sense of humor",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sentit de l'humor"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "sense of humor",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "lachspieren"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "sense of humor",
      "word": "nauruhermo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "sense of humor",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "poczucie humoru"
    }
  ],
  "word": "funny bone"
}

Download raw JSONL data for funny bone meaning in English (4.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.