可笑しい

Two derivations appear to have credence.^[1]

• From noun 痴 (woko → oko, “foolishness, ridiculousness, outrageousness”). The sense development would have been laughable, funny, odd.
• Similar to the formation of 床しい (yukashii, “elegant, refined, admirable; reminiscent, in accordance with”) from verb 行く (yuku, “to go”), from the sense of having a quality to make one want to go towards, from verb 招く (woku → oku, “to invite others closer, to draw others closer”). The sense development would have been inviting, amusing, funny, odd.

Considering the sense grouping, it appears that this might be a fusion of derivations, or of influence. The now-obsolete senses pertaining to interesting first arise in the late Heian period^[2] and would seem to fit the latter verb derivation. There are several other adjectives with similar derivation patterns, as + -ashii or -oshii.

Meanwhile, the current senses pertaining to funny and odd first appear earlier in the Heian period^[1] and would seem to fit the former noun derivation.

The spelling uses the characters 可 (“-able”) + 笑 (“laugh”), likely borrowed from written Chinese 可笑 (“laughable, funny, ridiculous”).

• (Tokyo) おかしい (Nakadaka – )^[3]
• IPA^(key):

可笑(おか)しい • (okashii) ^{←をかしい (wokasii)?}-i (adverbial 可笑(おか)しく (okashiku))

1. funny:
   1. funny, laughable

      あのピエロの動(うご)きは、可笑(おか)しい。

      Ano piero no ugoki wa, okashii.

      That clown's behavior is funny.

   2. strange, odd

      彼女(かのじょ)は可笑(おか)しいけど綺麗(きれい)だ。

      Kanojo wa okashii kedo kirei da.

      She is strange but pretty.

   3. unreasonable, illogical

      追試(ついし)をしても証明(しょうめい)できなければ、その論文(ろんぶん)は可笑(おか)しい。

      Tsuishi o shite mo shōmei dekinakereba, sono ronbun wa okashii.

      The report is unreasonable if even the supplementary examination cannot prove it.

2. (obsolete) interesting:
   1. interesting
   2. tasteful
   3. beautiful and attractive
   4. excellent, superb

The 可笑しい spelling has become rare in modern usage, superseded by the hiragana spelling おかしい.

Similar to 小さい (chīsai, “small”) and 大きい (ōkii), this adjective also has an adnominal form 可笑しな (okashina) that only attaches to nouns, and that cannot be used as the predicate of a sentence.