fortunate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fortunatus.

Morphologically fortune +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General American, weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nət/, /ˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nət/
• Hyphenation: for‧tu‧nate

Adjective

fortunate (comparative more fortunate, superlative most fortunate)

1. Auspicious.

   It is a fortunate sign if the sun shines on a newly wedded couple.

   • 1854, Edward Stanley, A Familiar History of Birds : Their Nature, Habits and Instincts‎^[1], page 144:

     if it sits still, with its breast towards them, till they have passed, they consider it as a fortunate sign, and everything is expected to go on well during the remainder of their journey

2. Happening by good luck or favorable chance.

   Patrick was the unlikely match-winner as Berkeley earned a fortunate victory over Chisolm.

   • 2011, George G. Szpiro, Pricing the Future: Finance, Physics, and the 300-year Journey to the Black-Scholes Equation‎^[2]:

     How many lucky winners, Regnault lamented, boastfully ascribe their success to wise decisions while in reality their triumph was nothing more than the fortunate outcome of random events?

   • 2018 July 11, “How Nina Weiner turns dreams into a reality”, in The Jerusalem Post:

     Weiner acknowledges that a stroke of good luck has helped steer her to a more fortunate path early on in life.

3. Favored by fortune.

   We were fortunate not to be fined for speeding.

   This is a time when we think of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Synonyms

• (auspicious): rosy; see also Thesaurus:auspicious
• (happening by favorable chance): lucky; see also Thesaurus:lucky
• (favored by fortune): privileged, successful; see also Thesaurus:prosperous

Antonyms

• unlucky
• unfortunate

Derived terms

• unfortunately
• fortunately

Translations

coming by good luck or favorable chance

• American Sign Language: Open8@Chin-PalmBack Open8@NearSideChinhigh-PalmForward
• Bulgarian: късметли́йски (kǎsmetlíjski)
• Catalan: afortunat (ca)
• Esperanto: fortuna (eo)
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• German: glücklich (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍆𐍄𐍃 (audahafts)
• Ido: fortunoza (io)
• Irish: sonasach, méanar (predicative only)
• Manx: traaoil
• Maori: momoho, angitu
• Persian: خجسته (fa) (xojaste)
• Polish: fortunny (pl)
• Portuguese: propício (pt)
• Russian: уда́чный (ru) (udáčnyj)
• Spanish: afortunado (es)
• Urdu: خوش قسمت (xuš qismat)

bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain

• Bulgarian: щастли́в (bg) (štastlív)
• Catalan: propici
• German: günstig (de), verheißungsvoll (de)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) (tycherós)
• Ido: hazarda (io), hazardala (io)
• Portuguese: propício (pt)
• Russian: счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj), уда́чный (ru) (udáčnyj)
• Spanish: propicio (es), favorable (es)

presaging happiness

auspicious

• Bulgarian: благоприя́тен (bg) (blagoprijáten)
• Catalan: favorable (ca), propici
• Finnish: lupaava (fi), suotuisa (fi)
• German: verheißungsvoll (de)
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐱃𐰞𐰆𐰍 (qutluɣ)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوتلو (qutlu)
• Russian: благоприя́тный (ru) (blagoprijátnyj)
• Turkish: kutlu (tr)

receiving some unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good, independent of one's own skill or efforts

• Bulgarian: уда́чен (bg) (udáčen)
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) m (tycherós)
• Russian: уда́чливый (ru) (udáčlivyj), счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj)

lucky, favored by fortune

• Albanian: gullmëmadh (sq), gullmëbardhë (sq)
• American Sign Language: Open8@Chin-PalmBack Open8@NearSideChinhigh-PalmForward
• Bulgarian: късметли́йски (kǎsmetlíjski)
• Catalan: afortunat (ca)
• Danish: heldig
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• German: glücklich (de)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) m (tycherós), καλότυχος (el) (kalótychos)

  Ancient: ἐυτυχής (eutukhḗs)

• Gujarati: નસીબદાર (nasībdār), ભાગ્યશાળી (bhāgyaśāḷī), સુભાગી (subhāgī), દૈવવાન (daivvān)
• Latin: fortunātus
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰃𐱃𐰞𐰆𐰍 (qutluɣ)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوتلو (qutlu)
• Portuguese: afortunado (pt), sortudo (pt), feliz (pt)
• Russian: уда́чливый (ru) (udáčlivyj), счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: fortanach
• Spanish: afortunado (es), fortunado (es)
• Swedish: lycklig (sv)
• Tocharian B: skwassu

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

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ádhúil
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} heldig (no)

See also

• unluckily
• luckily

References

• “fortunate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “fortunate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Italian

Adjective

fortunate

1. feminine plural of fortunato

Latin

Etymology

From fortūnātus (“fortunate, prosperous”).

Adverb

fortūnātē (comparative fortūnātius, superlative fortūnātissimē)

1. prosperously, fortunately

Related terms

• fortūnātus
• fortūnō

References

• “fortunate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fortunate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fortunate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)