also serio-comic, "having a mixture of seriousness and comicality," 1783, a blend of serious + comic (or comical). Related: Seriocomical (1749); seriocomically; seriocomedy.
Entries linking to seriocomic
serious adj.
early 15c., "arranged in sequence, continuous" (a sense now obsolete); mid-15c., of persons, "expressing earnest purpose or thought, resolute," from Old French serios "grave, earnest" (14c., Modern French sérieux) and directly from Late Latin seriosus, from Latin serius "weighty, important, grave."
This is probably from a PIE root *sehro- "slow, heavy" (source also of Lithuanian sveriu, sverti "to weigh, lift," svarus "heavy, weighty;" Old English swær "heavy," German schwer "heavy," Gothic swers "honored, esteemed," literally "weighty").
According to Middle English Compendium, two sets of Latin stems "seem to have fallen together" in Medieval Latin: ser- (as in series, serere) and sēr- (as in sērius, sēriōsus, etc.), perhaps through semantic overlap, which accounts for the earlier Middle English record of the word, which seems to belong to the first stem.
As "in earnest, not pretending or jesting," from 1712; in reference to of music, theater, etc., "dealing with grave matters" by 1762. The meaning "attended with danger, giving grounds for alarm" is from 1800. Serious-minded is attested by 1845.
comic adj.
late 14c., "of comedy in the classical sense, pertaining to comedy as distinct from tragedy," from Latin comicus "of comedy, represented in comedy, in comic style," from Greek komikos "of or pertaining to comedy," from komos (see comedy). Meaning "intentionally funny, raising mirth" is first recorded 1791, and comedic (1630s) has since picked up the older sense of the word.
Speaking of the masters of the comedic spirit (if I call it, as he does, the Comic Spirit, this darkened generation will suppose me to refer to the animal spirits of tomfools and merryandrews) .... [G.B. Shaw, 1897]
Something that is comic has comedy as its aim or origin; something is comical if the effect is comedy, whether intended or not. Comic relief is attested from 1817.
comical adj.
1550s, "of or pertaining to comedy," from comic (or Latin comicus) + -al (1). Meaning "funny, exciting mirth" is from 1680s. Also sometimes in 17c. "befitting comedy, low, ignoble." Related: Comicality; comicalness.