happiness

English

Etymology

From happy +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæpinɪs/, /ˈhæpinəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hap‧pi‧ness

Noun

happiness (countable and uncountable, plural happinesses)

2. (uncountable) The emotion of being happy; joy.
   • 1877, W. S. Gilbert, The Sorcerer

     Yes, Aline, true happiness comes of true love, and true love should be independent of external influences.

3. (archaic, uncountable) prosperity, thriving, wellbeing.
   • 1776, United States Declaration of Independence

     We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

4. (archaic, uncountable) Good luck; good fortune.
   • 1643, — William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I-i

     All happiness bechance to thee in Milan!

5. (obsolete, countable) Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; — used especially of language.

   Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness, as well as care. — Alexander Pope.

Usage notes

Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment.

Synonyms

• felicity (somewhat dated or formal)
• blessedness (dated or religious)
• bliss (more exalted delight, suggesting heaven)
• joy
• pleasure

Antonyms

• unhappiness
• haplessness
• suffering

Translations

emotion of being happy

• Afrikaans: geluk (af)
• Albanian: lumturi (sq) f
• Arabic: سَعَادَة‎ f (saʿāda)
• Armenian: երջանկություն (hy) (erǰankutʿyun)
• Asturian: felicidá f
• Azerbaijani: xoşbəxtlik, səadət
• Bashkir: бәхет (bäxet)
• Belarusian: шча́сце n (ščáscje)
• Bengali: সুখ (sukh)
• Bulgarian: ща́стие (bg) n (štástie)
• Burmese: သုခ (my) (su.hka.)
• Catalan: felicitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幸福 (zh) (xìngfú), 快樂 (zh), 快乐 (zh) (kuàilè), 愉快 (zh) (yúkuài)

• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Danish: lykke (da) c, glæde c
• Dutch: blijheid (nl) f, blijdschap (nl), geluk (nl) n, vreugde (nl) f
• Esperanto: feliĉeco
• Estonian: õnn (et)
• Faroese: gleði f
• Finnish: onnellisuus (fi)
• French: bonheur (fr) m
• Galician: felicidade (gl) f
• Georgian: ბედნიერება (bedniereba)
• German: Glück (de) n, Glücklichkeit (de) f
• Greek: ευτυχία (el) f (eftychía)

  Ancient Greek: εὐδαιμονία f (eudaimonía)

• Hawaiian: hauʻoli
• Hebrew: אושר \ אֹשֶׁר‎ (he) m ('ósher)
• Hindi: ख़ुशी f (xuśī)
• Hungarian: boldogság (hu)
• Hunsrik: Glick n
• Icelandic: gleði (is) f, hamingja (is) f
• Ido: feliceso (io)
• Indonesian: kebahagiaan (id)
• Ingush: ираз (iraz)
• Irish: sonas m, suáilceas m
• Italian: felicità (it) f, gioia (it) f
• Japanese: 幸福 (ja) (こうふく, kōfuku), 幸せ (ja) (しあわせ, shiawase), 愉快 (ja) (ゆかい, yukai)
• Kazakh: бақыт (baqıt)
• Khmer: សុភមង្គល (km) (sophĕəʾ mŭəngkŭəl), កាមសុខ (km) (kaamĕəʾsok), បរមសុខ (paʾraʾmaʾsok), បាមោជ្ជ (km) (paamaoccĕəʾ), បីតិ (km) (pəyteʾ), ប្រមោទ (km) (prɑmaot), ប្រីតា (km) (prəytaa)
• Korean: 행복 (ko) (haengbok) (幸福 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: bextewerî (ku), seadet (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бакыт (ky) (bakıt)
• Lao: ຄວາມສຸກ (lo) (khuām suk)
• Latgalian: laime
• Latin: laetitia f, gaudium n, felicitas f
• Latvian: laime f
• Lithuanian: laimė (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Gléck n
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), радост f (radost)

• Malay: kebahagiaan, kegembiraan
• Malayalam: ആനന്ദം (ml) (ānandaṃ), സന്തോഷം (ml) (santōṣaṃ), ആഹ്ളാദം (āhḷādaṃ)
• Maltese: feliċita f
• Maori: uruhautanga
• Mauritian Creole: jos, lazwa
• Mongolian: аз жаргал (az žargal)
• Navajo: ił hózhǫ́
• Northern Sami: illu
• Norwegian: lykke (no) m, glede (no) m

  Nynorsk: lukke

• Novial: feliseso
• Occitan: felicitat (oc) f, bonaür (oc)
• Old East Slavic: съчастиѥ n (sŭčastije)
• Old Norse: gleði f
• Pashto: خوشبختي‎ (ps) f (xošbaxtí), سعادت‎ (ps) m (sa'ādát)
• Persian: خوشبختی‎ (fa) (xošbaxti), شادی‎ (fa) (šâdi), سعادت‎ (fa) (sa'âdat)
• Polish: szczęście (pl) n, radość (pl) f
• Portuguese: felicidade (pt) f, alegria (pt) f
• Quechua: kusi
• Romani: baxt f
• Romanian: bucurie (ro) f, fericire (ro) f
• Russian: сча́стье (ru) n (sčástʹje), ра́дость (ru) f (rádostʹ)
• Sanskrit: सुख (sa) n (sukhá)
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сре̏ћа f

  Roman: srȅća (sh) f

• Shor: ырыс (ırıs)
• Sinhalese: සන්තෝෂය (santōṣaya)
• Slovak: šťastie n, radosť f
• Slovene: sreča (sl) f
• Spanish: felicidad (es) f
• Swahili: raha (sw)
• Swedish: lycka (sv) c, glädje (sv) c, fröjd (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaligayahan, ligaya (tl)
• Tajik: бахт (baxt), саодат (saodat), шодӣ (tg) (šodī), хушбахтӣ (tg) (xušbaxtī)
• Tamil: மகிழ்ச்சி (ta) (makiḻcci), சந்தோஷம் (ta) (cantōṣam)
• Tatar: бәхет (tt) (bäxet), сәгадәть (säğadät’), сәгадәт (tt) (säğadät)
• Telugu: సంతోషం (te) (santōṣaṃ)
• Thai: ความสุข (th) (kwaam-sùk)
• Tibetan: བདེ་བ (bde ba)
• Turkish: mutluluk (tr), saadet (tr)
• Turkmen: bagt (tk), şatlyk, eýgilik
• Ukrainian: ща́стя (uk) n (ščástja)
• Urdu: خوشی‎ f (xuśī), سعادت‎ (ur) f (sa'ādat)
• Uyghur: بەخت‎ (bext), خۇشاللىق‎ (xushalliq), سائادەت‎ (sa'adet)
• Uzbek: baxt (uz), chogʻlik (uz), xushbaxtlik (uz), saodat (uz)
• Venetian: ałegrézsa f, ałegrìa f
• Vietnamese: hạnh phúc (vi) (幸福)
• Walloon: bouneur (wa) m
• Welsh: hapusrwydd (cy)
• Yiddish: גליק‎ n (glik)

good luck

• Bulgarian: късмет (bg) m (kǎsmet)
• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Dutch: geluk (nl) n, fortuin (nl)
• Finnish: onni (fi)
• Greek: ευημερία (el) f (evimería), προκοπή (el) f (prokopí), ευπραγία (el) f (efpragía)
• Hungarian: szerencse (hu)
• Icelandic: lukka f
• Italian: gioia (it) f, felicità (it) f
• Japanese: 幸運 (ja) (kōun)

• Latvian: laime f
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), коб f (kob)
• Malayalam: സുഖം (ml) (sukhaṃ)
• Norwegian: hell (no) n
• Polish: szczęście (pl) n
• Portuguese: fortuna (pt) f
• Russian: сча́стье (ru) n (sčástʹje), уда́ча (ru) f (udáča), везе́ние (ru) n (vezénije), фортуна (ru) f (fortuna)
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh m
• Slovak: šťastie

agreeable feeling

• Dutch: blijheid (nl) f, blijdschap (nl), geluk (nl) n
• Finnish: onnellisuus (fi)
• Greek: ευτυχία (el) f (eftychía), χαρά (el) f (chará)
• Italian: felicità (it) f, allegria (it) f
• Latvian: laime f
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), радост f (radost)

• Malayalam: സുഖം (ml) (sukhaṃ), ആനന്ദം (ml) (ānandaṃ)
• Portuguese: felicidade (pt) f, alegria (pt) f
• Russian: сча́стье (ru) n (sčástʹje), ра́дость (ru) f (rádostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh m
• Telugu: సంతోషం (te) (santōṣaṃ)

fortuitous elegance

• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa)

• Russian: сча́стье (ru) n (sčástʹje), уда́ча (ru) f (udáča)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} سَعَادَة‎ f (saʿāda)
• Bengali: ^{(please verify)} সুখ (sukh)
• Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} kalipay
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} feliĉo
• French: ^{(please verify)} bonheur (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Fröhlichkeit (de) f, ^{(please verify)} Glück (de) n
• Kannada: ^{(please verify)} ಸುಖ (kn) (sukha), ^{(please verify)} ಸಂತೋಷ (kn) (santōṣa)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 행복 (ko) (haengbok)
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} خۆشی‎ (ku) (xoshí)
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} glede (no) m, ^{(please verify)} lykke (no) m
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} ēad n

• Persian: ^{(please verify)} خوشبختی‎ (fa) (xošbaxti)
• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} àigh m, ^{(please verify)} sonas m, ^{(please verify)} subhachas m, ^{(please verify)} toileachas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} срећа f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} sreća (sh) f

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} sreća (sh) f
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} sreća (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} срећа f
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} sreča (sl) f
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} glädje (sv), ^{(please verify)} lycka (sv)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} hạnh phúc (vi), ^{(please verify)} phúc (vi)

References

• happiness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Further reading

• Happiness (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• happiness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia