hedonism

English

WOTD – 2 September 2006

Etymology

First attested 1856: from Ancient Greek ἡδονή (hēdonḗ, “pleasure”) +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hēdənĭzəm, IPA^(key): /ˈhiːdənɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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• Hyphenation: he‧don‧ism

Noun

hedonism (usually uncountable, plural hedonisms)

1. (ethics, uncountable) The belief that pleasure or happiness is the highest good in life. Some hedonists, such as the Epicureans, have insisted that pleasure of the entire mind, not just pleasure of the senses, is the highest good.
2. (countable) A general devotion to the pursuit of pleasure.

Antonyms

• asceticism

Related terms

• hedonic
• hedonics
• hedonist
• hedonistic
• hedonistically

Translations

philosophy

• Arabic: مَذْهَب اَللِّذَّة m (maḏhab al-liḏḏa)
• Catalan: hedonisme m
• Cebuano: hedonismo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 享樂主義／享乐主义 (zh) (xiǎnglè zhǔyì), 享乐主义 (zh) (xiǎnglèzhǔyì)

• Czech: hédonismus (cs) m, hedonismus m
• Danish: hedonisme (da) c
• Dutch: hedonisme (nl) n, genotzucht (nl) f or m, epicurisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: hedonismo
• Finnish: hedonismi (fi)
• French: hédonisme (fr) m
• Georgian: ჰედონიზმი (ka) (hedonizmi)
• German: Hedonismus (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: הֶדוֹנִיזְם (he) m (hedonism)
• Irish: héadónachas m
• Italian: edonismo (it) m
• Japanese: 快楽主義 (かいらくしゅぎ, kairakushugi)
• Kurdish: ,
• Polish: hedonizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: hedonismo (pt) m
• Romanian: hedonism (ro) n
• Russian: гедони́зм (ru) m (gedonízm)
• Serbo-Croatian: хедонизам m, hedonizam (sh) m
• Spanish: hedonismo (es) m
• Swedish: hedonism (sv) c
• Turkish: hedonizm (tr), hazcılık (tr)

devotion to the pursuit of pleasure

• Cebuano: hedonismo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 享樂主義／享乐主义 (zh) (xiǎnglè zhǔyì), 享乐主义 (zh) (xiǎnglèzhǔyì)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: hedonismi (fi)
• German: Genußsucht (de) f, Genusssucht (de) f

See also

• debauchery

Further reading

• “hedonism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “hedonism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• demonish, monished