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felicity

noun
/fɪˈlɪsɪti/UK/fəˈlɪsəti/US

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], 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 fēlīx (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)).

  1. derived from *dʰeh₁(y)-✻ — “to nurse, suckle”
  2. derived from fēlīcitātem
  3. derived from felicité
  4. inherited from felicite — “bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”

Definitions

  1. The condition of being happy.

    • [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.
    • […] Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year.

  2. An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.

    An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words.

  3. Good luck

    Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic.

  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.

      • The quotation was rendered with felicity.

    2. Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.

      • […] 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.
      • The season’s main attraction, the felicities of the sun, dimmed in the light of our competition and our growing friendliness.

    3. Period (as opposed to lifetime) utility.

      • In equation (19.24) U#95;C(#92;cdot) is the marginal felicity of consumption[.]

    4. A female given name from English.

      • Fliss had them. Felicity Benson, Happiness Benson. Except she's not very happy at the moment, not with me.

The neighborhood

Derived

felicitous, felicitously, infelicity, unfelicity

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for felicity. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA