happiness

English

Alternative forms

• happinesse, happyness (obsolete)

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; elation.

   Synonyms: felicity, high spirits; see also Thesaurus:happiness

   Antonyms: haplessness, unhappiness; see also Thesaurus:sadness

   • 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.

   Antonym: suffering

   • 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.

   Synonyms: felicity, fortuity; see also Thesaurus:good luck

   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 20, column 2:

     All happineſſe bechance to thee in Millaine.

5. (obsolete, countable) Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace, used especially of language.
   • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC, page 10:

     Some Beauties yet, no Precepts can declare, / For there's a Happineſs as well as Care.

Usage notes

• The word 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)
• high spirits
• joy, joyfulness, joyousness
• pleasure

Derived terms

• bluebird of happiness
• double happiness
• gross national happiness
• happiness pump
• money can't buy happiness
• trigger-happiness

Translations

emotion of being happy

• Afrikaans: geluk (af)
• Albanian: lumturi (sq) f
• Arabic: سَعَادَة f (saʕāda), فَرَح (ar) (faraḥ)
• Armenian: երջանկություն (hy) (erǰankutʻyun)
• Asturian: felicidá f
• Avar: талихӏ (taliḥʳ)
• Azerbaijani: xoşbəxtlik, səadət
• Bashkir: бәхет (bəxet)
• Belarusian: шча́сце n (ščáscje)
• Bengali: সুখ (bn) (śukh)
• Bulgarian: ща́стие (bg) n (štástie)
• Burmese: သုခ (my) (su.hka.)
• Catalan: felicitat (ca) f
• Cebuano: kalipay
• Chinese:

  Literary: 福 (fú), 礽 (réng), 祉 (zhǐ)

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

• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Danish: lykke (da) c, glæde c, gammen
• Dutch: blijheid (nl) f, blijdschap (nl), geluk (nl) n, vreugde (nl) f
• Esperanto: feliĉo, feliĉeco
• Estonian: õnn (et)
• Farefare: pupeelum
• Faroese: gleði f
• Finnish: onnellisuus (fi), onni (fi), ilo (fi), riemu (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: εὐδαιμονία f (eudaimonía)

• Guaraní: vy'a (gn)
• 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)
• Ingrian: onni, ilo
• 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)
• Kabuverdianu: filisidadi
• Kazakh: бақыт (baqyt)
• Khmer: សុភមង្គល (km) (sophĕəʼmŭəngkŭəl), កាមសុខ (km) (kaamĕəʼsok), បរមសុខ (paʼraʼmaʼsok), បាមោជ្ជ (km) (paamaoccĕəʼ), បីតិ (km) (pəyteʼ), ប្រមោទ (km) (prɑmaot), ប្រីតា (km) (prəytaa)
• Korean: 행복(幸福) (ko) (haengbok), 기쁨 (ko) (gippeum), 즐거움 (ko) (jeulgeoum), 희열(喜悅) (ko) (huiyeol), 열락(悅樂) (yeollak)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bextewerî (ku), seadet (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бакыт (ky) (bakıt)
• Lao: ຄວາມສຸກ (lo) (khuām suk)
• Latgalian: laime
• Latin: laetitia f, gaudium n, felicitas f
• Latvian: laime (lv) f
• Lithuanian: laimė (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Gléck n
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), радост (mk) f (radost)
• Malay: kebahagiaan, kegembiraan
• Malayalam: സന്തോഷം (ml) (santōṣaṁ), ആഹ്ലാദം (ml) (āhlādaṁ), ആനന്ദം (ml) (ānandaṁ)
• Maltese: feliċita f
• Maori: uruhautanga, hurō
• Mauritian Creole: jos, lazwa
• Middle English: wynne
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аз жаргал (az žargal)

• Navajo: ił hózhǫ́
• Northern Sami: illu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lykke (no) m, glede (no) m

  Nynorsk: lukke

• Occitan: felicitat (oc) f, bonaür (oc)
• Old East Slavic: съчастиѥ n (sŭčastije)
• Old English: bliss (ang) f, ġefēa m
• Old Norse: gleði f
• Pannonian Rusyn: щесце n (ščesce)
• Pashto: خوشبختي (ps) f (xošbaxtí), سعادت (ps) m (sa'ādát)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: خوشْبَخْتی (xošbaxti), شادی (fa) (šâdi), سَعادَت (sa'âdat)

• Plautdietsch: Freid f, Häaj f
• 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 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
• Tabasaran: бахт (baꭓt)
• Tagalog: kaligayahan, ligaya (tl)
• Tajik: бахт (baxt), саодат (saodat), шодӣ (tg) (šodi), хушбахтӣ (tg) (xušbaxti)
• Tamil: மகிழ்ச்சி (ta) (makiḻcci), சந்தோஷம் (ta) (cantōṣam)
• Tatar: бәхет (tt) (bäxet), сәгадәть (sägadät’), сәгадәт (tt) (sägadät)
• Telugu: సంతోషం (te) (santōṣaṁ)
• Thai: ความสุข (th) (kwaam-sùk)
• Tibetan: བདེ་བ (bde ba)
• Turkish: mutluluk (tr), saadet (tr)
• Turkmen: bagt (tk), şatlyk, eýgilik
• Tuvan: аас-кежик (aas-kejik)
• Ukrainian: ща́стя (uk) n (ščástja), ра́дість f (rádistʹ)
• Urdu: خُوشی f (xūśī), سَعادَت (ur) f (sa'ādat)
• Uyghur: بەخت (bext), خۇشاللىق (xushalliq), سائادەت (sa'adet), بەختلىك (bextlik), دىلشاتلىق (dilshatliq), ھالاۋەت (halawet)
• Uzbek: baxt (uz), chogʻlik (uz), xushbaxtlik (uz), saodat (uz)
• Venetan: ałegrézsa f, ałegrìa f
• Vietnamese: hạnh phúc (vi) (幸福)
• Walloon: bouneur (wa) m
• Welsh: hapusrwydd (cy)
• Yiddish: גליק n (glik)

good luck

• Bulgarian: късме́т (bg) m (kǎsmét)
• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Dutch: geluk (nl) n, fortuin (nl)
• Finnish: onni (fi), onnekkuus (fi)
• German: Glück (de) n
• Greek: ευημερία (el) f (evimería), προκοπή (el) f (prokopí), ευπραγία (el) f (efpragía)
• Hungarian: szerencse (hu)
• Icelandic: lukka f
• Ingrian: onni, lykky
• Italian: gioia (it) f, felicità (it) f
• Japanese: 幸運 (ja) (こううん, kōun)
• Korean: 행운(幸運) (ko) (haeng'un)
• Latin: fēlīcitās f
• Latvian: laime (lv) f
• Lithuanian: laimė (lt) m
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), коб f (kob)
• Malayalam: സുഖം (ml) (sukhaṁ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: 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
• Ukrainian: ща́стя (uk) n (ščástja), уда́ча f (udáča), везі́ння n (vezínnja)
• Vietnamese: may mắn (vi), phúc (vi)

agreeable feeling

• Dutch: blijheid (nl) f, blijdschap (nl), geluk (nl) n
• Finnish: onnellisuus (fi)
• German: Fröhlichkeit (de) f
• Greek: ευτυχία (el) f (eftychía), χαρά (el) f (chará)
• Italian: felicità (it) f, allegria (it) f
• Korean: 즐거움 (ko) (jeulgeoum), 기쁨 (ko) (gippeum), 만족(滿足)) (manjok)), 충족(充足) (chungjok), 열락(悅樂) (yeollak)
• Latvian: laime (lv) f
• Macedonian: среќа f (sreḱa), радост (mk) f (radost)
• Malayalam: സുഖം (ml) (sukhaṁ), ആനന്ദം (ml) (ānandaṁ)
• Maori: hurō
• Polish: szczęście (pl) n
• Portuguese: felicidade (pt) f, alegria (pt) f
• Russian: сча́стье (ru) n (sčástʹje), ра́дость (ru) f (rádostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh m
• Telugu: సంతోషం (te) (santōṣaṁ)
• Ukrainian: ща́стя (uk) n (ščástja), ра́дість f (rádistʹ)

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. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} سَعَادَة f (saʕāda)
• Bengali: ^{(please verify)} সুখ (bn) (śukh)
• Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} kalipay
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} feliĉo
• French: ^{(please verify)} bonheur (fr) m
• Kannada: ^{(please verify)} ಸುಖ (kn) (sukha), ^{(please verify)} ಸಂತೋಷ (kn) (santōṣa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} خۆشی (xoşî)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ^{(please verify)} glede (no) m, ^{(please verify)} lykke (no) m

• Old English: ^{(please verify)} ēad n
• 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 f

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

References

• “happiness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

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