jester
Americannoun
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jesters
plural
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a person who is given to witticisms, jokes, and pranks.
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a professional fool or clown, especially at a medieval court.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of jester
First recorded in 1325–75, jester is from the Middle English word gester. See gest, -er 1
Explanation
A jester is a joker or clown who performs for an audience. Most jesters worked for English kings' courts during medieval and Tudor times. Back in Shakespeare's day, English royals employed many entertainers who performed plays, songs, and other acts for them. Among these professionals was the jester, whose job was keeping the nobles amused. Some jesters would travel in groups, putting on shows in various cities. Fools and jesters appear in many of Shakespeare's plays. The word was originally spelled gestour, which was defined as "a minstrel or teller of tales." The root is the Anglo-Latin gesten, "recite a tale."
Vocabulary lists containing jester
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
No dichotomy better represents Berlant’s razor-sharp, thoroughly tasteful wit, which sits halfway between refined humorist and go-for-broke court jester.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
Working on a serious documentary didn’t stop Jackson from his activities as a harsh and relentless internet jester.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
Created by a solo developer known only as LocalThunk, card game Balatro - which takes its name from the Latin for jester or buffoon - is one of the year's biggest success stories.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2024
She could: She plays the Fool — usually a male role — the court jester whose comic antics soften the sting of bracingly honest commentary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
If Pollard was the jester, Woolf was the king.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Ollie Rathbone and Sam Smith's goals set up the annual pitch invasion as Wrexham swept aside Charlton to "football in the circus," chants from supporters, some of whom sported jesters hats.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025
Clowns, as pranksters, jesters, jokers, harlequins, and mythologized tricksters have been around for ages.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023
But the visible ones are often jesters to be laughed at.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2022
When Fo won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1997, the Nobel Committee praised him for “emulating the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2022
There were usually at least eight wagons in our troupe and well over two dozen performers: actors and acrobats, musicians and hand magicians, jugglers and jesters.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
