joy

See also Joy

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Middle English joye, from Old French joie, from Late Latin gaudia, neuter plural (mistaken as feminine singular) of gaudium (“joy”), from gaudēre (“to be glad, rejoice”). Displaced native Middle English wunne (from Old English wynn), Middle Englishhight, hught (“joy, hope”) (from Old English hyht), Middle English rot, root (“joy, delight”) (from Old English rōt), Middle English murȝe murghe (“joy, mirth”) (from Old English myrg (“joy, mirth”)), Middle English gleo (“joy, glee”) (from Old English glēow, glīw (“glee”)), Middle English blisse (“joy, bliss”) (from Old English blisse, blīþs).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʒɔɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

joy (countable and uncountable; plural joys)

1. (uncountable) The feeling of happiness, extreme cheerfulness.

   They will be a source of strength and joy in your life.

2. (countable) An activity etc which causes this feeling.

   The joys and demands of new parents.

Antonyms

• (feeling of happiness): infelicity, joylessness, unhappiness

Derived terms

• bundle of joy
• cocky's joy
• enjoy
• joyance
• joyful
• joygasm
• joyless
• joyous
• joy ride
• joystick
• jump for joy
• killjoy
• no joy
• overjoy
• traveller's joy

Translations

feeling of happiness

• Albanian: gaz (sq) m
• Arabic: سرور (ar) (surūr) m, فرح (ar) (fáraḥ) m
• Belarusian: радасць (be) (rádasc’) f
• Bulgarian: радост (bg) (rádost) f
• Catalan: alegria (ca) f, joia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 歡喜 (cmn), 欢喜 (cmn) (huānxǐ), 歡樂 (cmn), 欢乐 (cmn) (huānlè), 喜悅 (cmn), 喜悦 (cmn) (xǐyuè)

  Min Nan: 歡喜 (nan), 欢喜 (nan) (hoaⁿ-hí)

  Wu: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: radost (cs) f
• Danish: lykke (da) c
• Dutch: vreugde (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĝojo (eo)
• Finnish: ilo (fi), riemu (fi)
• French: joie (fr) f
• German: Freude (de) f
• Gilbertese: kukurei
• Greek: ευφορία (el) (efforía) f, αγαλλίαση (el) (agallíasi) f, χαρά (el) (khará) f
• Hawaiian: ʻoliʻoli
• Hebrew: שמחה (he) (simkhá) f
• Hindi: हर्ष (hi) (harṣ) m
• Hungarian: öröm (hu)
• Icelandic: gleði (is) f
• Ido: joyo (io)
• Irish: áthas (ga) m
• Italian: gioia (it) f
• Japanese: 喜び (ja) (よろこび, yorokobi)
• Korean: 즐거움 (ko) (jeulgeoum), 기쁨 (ko) (gippeum)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: خۆشی (ku) (xoshí)

• Latgalian: prīca f

• Latin: gaudium (la) n, gaudimonium (la) n
• Latvian: prieks (lv) m
• Macedonian: радост (mk) (rádost) f
• Maltese: ferħ (mt)
• Manx: boggey (gv) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fryd (no) m, glede (no) c

  Nynorsk: fryd (nn) m, frygd (nn) f, glede (nn) f

• Old English: wynn (ang) f, drēam (ang) m, ġefēa (ang) m
• Persian: سرور (fa) (sorur)
• Polish: uciecha (pl), radość (pl)
• Portuguese: alegria (pt) f
• Romanian: fericire (ro) f, bucurie (ro) f, jovialitate (ro) f, veselie (ro) f, voioșie (ro)
• Russian: радость (ru) (rádost’) f, веселье (ru) (vesél’je) n
• Sanskrit: हर्ष (sa) (harṣa) m, सुख (sa)
• Scottish Gaelic: àigh (gd) m, sogan (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: радост (sh) f, весеље (sh) n, срећа (sh) f

  Roman: radost (sh) f, veselje (sh) n, sreća (sh) f

• Slovak: radosť (sk) f
• Slovene: radost (sl) f
• Spanish: alegría (es) f, gozo (es) m, felicidad (es), júbilo (es), regocijo (es)
• Swahili: furaha (sw)
• Swedish: glädje (sv) c
• Tamil: இன்பம் (ta) (iṉpam)
• Telugu: సంతోషం (te)
• Thai: สุข (th) (suk)
• Turkish: haz (tr), sevinç (tr), keyif (tr)
• Ukrainian: радість (uk) (rádist’) f
• Venetian: ałegrézsa f, ałegrìa f
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: פֿרייד (yi) (freyd) f
• Zulu: injabulo (zu)

Verb

joy (third-person singular simple present joys, present participle joying, simple past and past participle joyed)

1. (intransitive) To feel joy, to rejoice.
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:

     And than they joyed much, and dwelled there all day; and uppon the morne, whan they had herde Masse, they departed and commended the good man to God.

   • 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18:

     I swore readily enough to this and he joyed with exceeding joy and embraced me round the neck while love for him possessed my whole heart.

2. (transitive, archaic) To enjoy.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i.2:

     For from the time that Scudamour her bought, / In perilous fight, she neuer ioyed day [...].

   • Milton

     Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To give joy to; to congratulate.
   • Dryden

     Joy us of our conquest.

   • Prior

     To joy the friend, or grapple with the foe.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.
   • Shakespeare

     Neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: months · grew · boys · #679: joy · green · mouth · generally