felicity

See also: Felicity

English

WOTD – 21 March 2021

Etymology

From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms],^[1] borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French félicité (“bliss, happiness; felicity”)), from Latin fēlīcitātem, the accusative singular of fēlīcitās (“fertility, fruitfulness; happiness, felicity; good fortune; success”), from fēlix (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”))^[2] + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɪsɪti/
(General American) IPA^(key): /fəˈlɪsəti/, [-ɾi]
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪsɪti
Hyphenation: fe‧li‧ci‧ty

Noun

felicity (countable and uncountable, plural felicities)

(uncountable) Happiness; (countable) an instance of this.
Synonyms: joy, mirth; see also Thesaurus:happiness

Antonym: infelicity
- 1513, Henry Bradshaw, edited by Edward Hawkins, The Holy Lyfe and History of Saynt Werburge: Very Frutefull for All Christen People to Rede (Remains Historical & Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester Published by The Chetham Society; volume XV), […] The Chetham Society, published 1848:
  Whan this ſayd monument diſcouered was / Suche a ſuauite and fragrant odoure / Aſcended from the corps by ſingular grace / Paſſyng all worldly ſwetnes and ſauour / That all there present that day and hour / Suppoſed they had ben / in the felicite / Of erthely paradiſe / without ambiguite.
- 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 3:
  [T]he wiſe Man gave his Teſtimony to this, as the juſt Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have neither Poverty nor Riches.
- 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 2:
  […] Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year.
- 1862, M[arcus] Aurelius Antoninus [i.e., Marcus Aurelius], “Book V”, in George Long, transl., The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, London: Bell and Daldy, […], →OCLC, page 66:
  For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance.
(uncountable) An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words.
(uncountable, rare) Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic.
(uncountable, semiotics) Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.
The quotation was rendered with felicity.
(countable) Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
  […] to weare our ſelues & neuer reſt,
  Untill we reach the ripeſt fruites of all,
  That perfect bliſſe and ſole felicitie,
  The ſweet fruition of an earthly crowne.
- 2007 August 7, Joshua Ferris, “Table for two”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 December 2020:
  The season’s main attraction, the felicities of the sun, dimmed in the light of our competition and our growing friendliness.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

happiness — see happiness

apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.

Chinese:
Mandarin: 得體 / 得体 (zh) (détǐ)
Esperanto: feliĉego
French: félicité (fr) f
Greek: ευδαιμονία (el) f (evdaimonía)
Italian: felicità (it) f
Macedonian: у́месност f (úmesnost), соо́дветност f (soódvetnost)
Portuguese: felicidade (pt) f
Spanish: felicidad (es)

apt and pleasing choice of words

good luck, success — see good luck,‎ success

instance of unexpected good luck — see stroke of luck

lucky characteristic

reproduction of a sign with fidelity

something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt

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

French: ^{(please verify)} félicité (fr)
Italian: ^{(please verify)} felicità (it)

References

^ “felicitẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “felicity, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1895; “felicity, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.