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: /ˈfɔːtjuːn/, SAMPA: /"fO:tju:n/

• Audio (US)

  (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) 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. Finnish: kohtalo (fi) German: Schicksal (de) n., Glück (de) n. Hebrew: גורל (he) m.

Hungarian: végzet (hu) 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. 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. Spanish: fortuna (es) f.

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. 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. Finnish: onni (fi), tuuri (fi) (colloquial) French: bonne chance (fr) f. German: Glück (de) n. 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. Romanian: noroc (ro) m. Russian: удача (ru) (udáča) f., фортуна (ru) (fortúna) f., везение (ru) (vezénije) n. Scottish Gaelic: àigh (gd) m. 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) German: Vermögen (de) n. Hungarian: vagyon (hu) Italian: fortuna (it) f., dote (it) f.

Japanese: 富 (ja) (tomi) 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], 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