felicity

See also: Felicity

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French felicite, from Latin felicitās (“luck”), from felix (“lucky”).

Noun

felicity (uncountable)

1. Happiness.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, page 2:

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

   • 1862, George Long, translation of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book V:

     For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance.

2. Apt and pleasing style in writing, speech, etc.
3. Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.
4. (semiotics, semiology) Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.

   The quotation was rendered with felicity.

   • 2007 August 7, Joshua Ferris, “Table for two”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

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

Antonyms

• (happiness): infelicity

Derived terms

Terms derived from "felicity"

• felicific
• felicitate

• felicitation
• felicitous

Translations

happiness — see happiness

apt and pleasing style in writing, speech, etc.

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 得體 (zh), 得体 (zh) (détǐ)

• Esperanto: feliĉego
• French: félicité (fr) f
• Greek: ευδαιμονία (el) f (evdaimonía)

• Italian: felicità (it) f
• Portuguese: felicidade (pt) f
• Romanian: fericire (ro) f
• Spanish: felicidad (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} félicité (fr)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} felicità (it)