fortune

English

Etymology

From Latin fortuna (“fate, luck”). The plural form fortunae meant  (“possessions”), which also gave fortune the meaning of  (“riches”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfɔːtʃuːn/, X-SAMPA: /"fO:tSu:n/
• (US) IPA: /ˈfɔɹtʃən/, X-SAMPA: /"fOrtS@n/

• Audio (US, California)

  (file)

Noun

fortune (plural fortunes)

1. Destiny or fate.

   She will read your fortune.

   I read about my fortunes in the magazine. Apparently I will have a good love life this week, but I will have a bad week for money.

2. A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
3. A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
4. A chance.
5. Good luck.

   Fortune favors the brave.

   Landing the manager's job was more down to good fortune than skill.

6. One's wealth; the amount of money one has; especially, if it is vast.

   He's amassed a small fortune working in the Middle East.

   My vast fortune was a result of inheritance and stock market nous.

   Her fortune is estimated at 3 million dollars.

7. A large amount of money.

   That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:wealth

Antonyms

• misfortune

Related terms

• fortune-teller
• fortune cookie
• fortunate
• unfortunate
• give hostage to fortune
• soldier of fortune
• wheel of fortune

Translations

destiny or fate

• Basque: adur (eu), zori (eu)
• Catalan: fortuna (ca) f, destí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 命運 (cmn), 命运 (cmn) (mìngyùn), 氣數 (cmn), 气数 (cmn) (qìshu), 宿命 (cmn) (sùmìng), 運命 (cmn), 运命 (cmn) (yùnmìng)

• Czech: osud (cs) m
• Dutch: lot (nl) n, noodlot (nl) n, (in fixed expressions) fortuin (nl) n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kohtalo (fi)
• French: destin (fr)
• German: Schicksal (de) n, Glück (de) n
• Greek: τύχη (el) (týchi) f
• Hebrew: גורל (he) m
• Hungarian: végzet (hu)

• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingua: fortuna (ia)
• Italian: sorte (it) f, destino (it) m, fortuna (it) f
• Japanese: 運命 (ja) (うんめい, unmei), 宿命 (ja) (しゅくめい, shukumei)
• Latin: fortuna (la) f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: fortuna (pl) f
• Portuguese: destino (pt) m, fortuna (pt) f, sina (pt) f
• Romanian: soartă (ro) n
• Russian: судьба (ru) (sud'bá) f, доля (ru) (dólja) f, участь (ru) (účast') f, рок (ru) (rok) m, удел (ru) (udél) m
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: fortuna (es) f
• Volapük: fät (vo), benofät (vo), mifät (vo)
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

a chance

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機會 (cmn), 机会 (cmn) (jīhuì)

• Dutch: kans (nl) c, geluk (nl) n
• Finnish: sattuma (fi)
• German: Glück (de) n
• Interlingua: fortuna (ia)
• Japanese: 機会 (ja) (きかい, kikai), チャンス (ja) (chansu)

• Korean: 기회 (ko) (gihoe) (機會 (ko))
• Latin: fortuna (la) f
• Portuguese: chance (pt) f
• Romanian: şansă (ro) m
• Russian: возможность (ru) (vozmóžnost’) f, шанс (ru) (šans) m
• Spanish: fortuna (es) f

good luck

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好運 (cmn), 好运 (cmn) (hǎoyùn), 幸運 (cmn), 幸运 (cmn) (xìngyùn), 機緣 (cmn), 机缘 (cmn) (jīyuán), 造化 (cmn) (zàohua)

• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Dutch: geluk (nl) n
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: onni (fi), tuuri (fi) (colloquial)
• French: bonne chance (fr) f
• German: Glück (de) n
• Greek: τύχη (el) (týchi) f
• Hungarian: szerencse (hu)
• Ido: fortuno (io)
• Indonesian: keberuntungan (id)
• Italian: fortuna (it) f

• Japanese: 幸運 (ja) (こううん, kōun)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نوخشه (ku) (nuxshe), خۆشبه‌خت (ku) (xoshbext)

• Latin: fortuna (la) f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: szczęście (pl) n
• Portuguese: fortuna (pt) f, fortúnio (pt) m, sorte (pt) f
• Romanian: noroc (ro) m
• Russian: удача (ru) (udáča) f, фортуна (ru) (fortúna) f, везение (ru) (vezénije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh (gd) m
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: fortuna (es) f
• Swedish: tur (sv) c

lots of riches

• Czech: bohatství (cs) n
• Dutch: fortuin (nl) n, vermogen (nl) n
• Finnish: omaisuus (fi)
• French: fortune (fr)
• German: Vermögen (de) n
• Hungarian: vagyon (hu)
• Italian: fortuna (it) f, dote (it) f

• Japanese: 富 (ja) (tomi)
• Portuguese: fortuna (pt) f
• Romanian: avere (ro) f
• Russian: богатство (ru) (bogátstvo) n, состояние (ru) (sostojánije) n
• Swedish: förmögenhet (sv) c
• Turkish: servet (tr)

Verb

fortune (third-person singular simple present fortunes, present participle fortuning, simple past and past participle fortuned)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To happen, take place. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew ch. 8:

     Then the heerdmen, fleed and went there ways into the cite, and tolde everythinge, and what had fortuned unto them that were possessed of the devyls.

   • 1885, Sir Richard Burton, “Night 20”, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: foreign · native · members · #958: fortune · glass · silver · winter

Anagrams

• ten-four

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fortūna.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fortune f (plural fortunes)

1. fortune

   faire une fortune

   make a fortune

   faire fortune

   make a fortune

Related terms

• de fortune

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA: [forˈt̪uː.ne], X-SAMPA: /for"tu:.ne/

Noun

fortune f

1. Plural form of fortuna

Anagrams

• funtore

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Middle English

Noun

fortune (plural fortunes)

1. fortune (fate, chance)

Descendants

• English: fortune

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Middle French

Noun

fortune f (plural fortunes)

1. fortune (fate, chance)

Descendants

• French: fortune