pantomime

See also: pantomimë and Pantomime

English

Etymology

First appears c. 1606, from Latin pantomīmus, from Ancient Greek παντόμιμος (pantómimos), from πᾶς (pâs, “each, all”) + μιμέομαι (miméomai, “to mimic”). The verbal form first appears c. 1768.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpæn.təˌmʌɪm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpæn.təˌmaɪm/

Noun

pantomime (countable and uncountable, plural pantomimes)

1. (now rare) A Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime. [from 17th c.]
   • 1865, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization:

     [He] saw a pantomime perform so well that he could follow the performance from the action alone.

2. (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) The drama in ancient Greece and Rome featuring such performers; or (later) any of various kinds of performance modelled on such work. [from 17th c.]
4. (UK) A traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children and involving physical comedy, topical jokes, call and response, and fairy-tale plots. [from 18th c.]

   Synonym: (informal) panto

   • 2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 September 2015:

     With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.

   • 2025 November 28, Hollie Richardson, “Oh yes he is! Kiefer Sutherland dives into the world of panto”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 2 December 2025:

     Wilson is no stranger to pantoland: “I have fun memories of seeing pantomimes in Australia when I was a kid. They were on at our local Returned and Services League club – my relatives fought in the wars. My mum also said that when I was two, she took me to my first pantomime in Sydney.

5. The act of gesturing without speaking; a dumb-show, a mime. [from 18th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 26”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     A staid, steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of action, and not a tame chapter of sounds.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 26:

     In pantomime, Chief Joyi would fling his spear and creep along the veld as he narrated the victories and defeats.

Derived terms

• panto
• pantomime horse
• pantomimer
• pantomimery
• pantomimesque
• pantomime villain
• pantomimic
• pantomimish
• pantomimist

Related terms

• dame
• dumb show
• mime
• pantomimical

Translations

traditional theatrical entertainment, mostly for children

• Abkhaz: апантоми́ма (apʼantʼomíma)
• German: Pantomime (de) f
• Japanese: パントマイム (ja) (pantomaimu)
• Kazakh: пантомима (pantomima)
• Korean: 팬터마임 (paenteomaim)
• Malay: pantomim​
• Portuguese: pantomima (pt) f
• Russian: пантоми́ма (ru) f (pantomíma)
• Swedish: pantomim (sv) c, mim (sv) c

gesturing without speaking — see also mime

• Armenian: մնջախաղ (hy) (mnǰaxaġ)
• Bulgarian: пантомима f (pantomima)
• Catalan: pantomima (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 啞劇 / 哑剧 (zh) (yǎjù)

• Czech: pantomima (cs) f
• Esperanto: pantomimo
• Estonian: pantomiim
• French: pantomime (fr) f
• German: Pantomime (de) f
• Icelandic: látbragðsleikur m
• Japanese: パントマイム (ja) (pantomaimu)
• Korean: 팬터마임 (paenteomaim)
• Malay: pantomim, kialan​
• Polish: pantomima (pl)
• Portuguese: pantomima (pt) f, mímica (pt) f
• Romanian: pantomim (ro) m
• Russian: пантоми́ма (ru) f (pantomíma)
• Spanish: pantomima (es) f
• Swedish: pantomim (sv) c, mim (sv) c
• Turkish: pantomim (tr)

pantomimer — see pantomimer,‎ mime

See also

• dumb show
• sign language

Verb

pantomime (third-person singular simple present pantomimes, present participle pantomiming, simple past and past participle pantomimed)

1. (transitive) To make (a gesture) without speaking.

   I pantomimed steering a car; he understood, and tossed the keys to me.

2. (transitive) To entertain others by silent gestures or actions. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

to gesture without speaking

• Swedish: mima (sv)

to entertain others by gestures or actions

• Swedish: mima (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: pantomimisieren

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

pantomime f (plural pantomimes)

1. pantomime

Further reading

• “pantomime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pan.toˈmi.me/
• Rhymes: -ime
• Hyphenation: pan‧to‧mì‧me

Noun

pantomime f

1. plural of pantomima

Latin

Noun

pantomīme

1. vocative singular of pantomīmus