Word.ws English Dictionary

Humphrey

/ˈhʌmfɹi/

Humphrey proper noun: a male given name from the Germanic languages.

Proper noun

Humphrey

  1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
    • I neuer ſaw but Humfrey Duke of Gloſter, / Did beare him like a Noble Gentleman: […]1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • "Hump?" I asked. "Humphrey, really. But everybody calls him Hump. I know a lot of people who avoid calling him by his first name. For a long time people didn't think it was quite proper. But nowadays nobody seems to mind. What's happening to the power of words, Benny? Time was I used to blush at...1988, Howard Engel, chapter 6, in A Victim Must Be Found, Markham, Ont.: Viking, →ISBN, page 70
  2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Origin of Humphrey

Name of a 9th-century French saint, brought to England by Normans; Proto-Germanic *unnaną (“to grant, bestow”) + *friþuz (“peace”). In Ireland it has been used to Anglicize Irish Amhlaoibh (= Olaf).

Words formed from Humphrey

Phrases with Humphrey

Questions about Humphrey

What does Humphrey mean?
Humphrey means a male given name from the Germanic languages.
What part of speech is Humphrey?
Humphrey is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Humphrey?
Humphrey is pronounced /ˈhʌmfɹi/.

Words near Humphrey in the dictionary

  1. humphed
  2. Humpherson
  3. Humphery
  4. Humpherys
  5. humphing
  6. Humphrey
  7. Humphrey's law
  8. Humphreys
  9. Humphreys County
  10. Humphreys Peak
  11. Humphreys series

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Humphrey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Humphrey.wav.

Cite this entry: “Humphrey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humphrey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.