pleasantry

From pleasant +‎ -ry, probably modelled on Middle French plaisanterie.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈplɛzəntɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pleas‧ant‧ry

pleasantry (countable and uncountable, plural pleasantries)

1. (sometimes proscribed) A casual, courteous remark.
2. A playful remark; a jest.
   • 2014 November 18, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Charlie Mulgrew could easily have been shown two yellow cards by a stricter referee and amid all the usual Anglo-Scottish pleasantries, the two sets of fans put an awful lot of effort into trying to drown out one another’s national anthems.

3. (dated) Anything that promotes pleasure or merriment.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Toontown: Corporate Clash Development Team, Transcription Excerpt‎^[2]:

     C.O.O: "The office was quite close to the home of our youth—"
     CHRM: "Thomas, your trip to Suitopia was not meant to be for pleasantries."
     C.O.O: "No… I know… But I was close by, so I went to visit them…"
     CHRM: "You should not have. You and I both know the way they are."

• The word originally meant a joke or witticism. It is now generally used to mean only polite conversation in general (as in the phrase "exchange of pleasantries"), which is sometimes proscribed.

• small talk