wealth

English

Alternative forms

• wealthe, welth, welthe (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English welth, welthe, weolthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *weleþu, from Proto-Germanic *waliþō (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”)) of wele (“wealth, well-being, weal”), from Old English wela (“wealth, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, prosperity”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“good, best”); equivalent to weal +‎ -th. Cognate with Dutch weelde (“wealth”), Low German weelde (“wealth”), Old High German welida, welitha (“wealth”). Related also to German Wohl (“welfare, well-being, weal”), Danish vel (“weal, welfare”), Swedish väl (“well-being, weal”). More at weal, well.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛlθ/, [wɛl̪θ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlθ

Noun

wealth (usually uncountable, plural wealths)

1. (economics) Riches; valuable material possessions.
2. A great amount; an abundance or plenty.

   She brings a wealth of knowledge to the project.

   • 2018 July 3, Ian Sample, “Routine DNA tests will put NHS at the 'forefront of medicine'”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Beyond its aim to bring patients the most effective treatments faster, the service is expected to generate a wealth of data on the interplay between DNA, health and lifestyles, which will become a powerful tool for research into cancer and other diseases.

3. (obsolete) Prosperity; well-being; happiness.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act V scene i^[2]:

     I once did lend my body for his wealth, / Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, / Had quite miscarried: […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Corinthians 10:24:

     Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:wealth

Derived terms

• wealthen
• wealthful
• wealthfully
• wealthily
• wealthiness
• wealthless
• wealthlessness
• wealthy
• wealthyish

Translations

riches; valuable material possessions

• Arabic: أَمْوَال‎ m (ʾamwāl), ثَرْوَة‎ f (ṯarwa)
• Armenian: հարստություն (hy) (harstutʿyun), ինչք (hy) (inčʿkʿ), բարիք (hy) (barikʿ)
• Aromanian: aveari
• Bashkir: байлыҡ (baylïq)
• Basque: aberastasun
• Belarusian: бага́цце n (baháccje)
• Bulgarian: богатство (bg) n (bogátstvo)
• Catalan: patrimoni (ca) m, riquesa (ca) f
• Chichewa: chuma
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 財富 (zh), 财富 (zh) (cáifù)

• Czech: bohatství (cs) n
• Danish: rigdom
• Dutch: rijkdom (nl) m
• Esperanto: riĉeco
• Finnish: varallisuus (fi); rikkaus (fi), rikkaudet pl
• French: richesse (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Reichtum (de) m, Vermögen (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: πλοῦτος m (ploûtos)

• Hausa: dukiya
• Hindi: धन (hi) m (dhan)
• Hungarian: gazdagság (hu)
• Irish: saibhreas m
• Italian: ricchezza (it) f
• Japanese: 財産 (ja) (ざいさん, zaisan), 富 (ja) (とみ, tomi), 財 (ja) (たから, takara), 富裕 (ja) (ふゆう, fuyū)
• Javanese: bandha (jv)
• Karakhanid: نانْكْ‎ (nēŋ)
• Khmer: វត្ថុ (km) (voattʰo’)
• Korean: 부유 (ko) (buyu)
• Krio: gentri

• Latin: ops (la) f
• Latvian: bagātība f, turība f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Riekdom

• Macedonian: бо́гатство n (bógatstvo)
• Malay: kekayaan
• Ngazidja Comorian: mali class 9/10
• Persian: ثروت‎ (fa) (servat)
• Polish: zamożność (pl) f, bogactwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: riqueza (pt) f
• Quechua: kapuy
• Romanian: avere (ro) f, bogăție (ro) f
• Russian: бога́тство (ru) n (bogátstvo), благосостоя́ние (ru) n (blagosostojánije)
• Sanskrit: धन्य (sa) n (dhánya)
• Scottish Gaelic: ionmhas m, beartas m, maoin f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: богатство n

  Roman: bogatstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: bohatstvo n
• Slovene: bogástvo (sl) n
• Spanish: prosperidad (es) f, riqueza (es) f
• Swedish: rikedom (sv) c, förmögenhet (sv) c, välstånd (sv) c
• Telugu: ఐశ్వర్యము (te) (aiśvaryamu), ధనము (te) (dhanamu)
• Thai: ความรวย (th) (kwaam-ruai)
• Tibetan: ཕྱུག (phyug)
• Turkish: servet (tr), varlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: бага́тство (uk) n (bahátstvo)
• Urdu: دھن‎ m (dhan), ثروت‎ f (sarvat)
• Uzbek: boylik (uz)
• Vietnamese: tài phúc (財富)
• Volapük: lieg (vo)
• Yiddish: רײַכקײַט‎ f (raykhkayt)
• ǃXóõ: ǂkxʻái

great amount; an abundance or plenty, usually of money

• Breton: pinvidigezh (br) f
• Catalan: riquesa (ca) f, abundància (ca) f
• Czech: bohatství (cs) n
• Danish: rigdom, velstand (da), formue
• Dutch: rijkdom (nl) m, weelde (nl) f
• Finnish: rikkaus (fi)
• French: profusion (fr) f, abondance (fr) f
• German: Fülle (de) f
• Greek: πλούτος (el) m (ploútos) (ploútos)
• Hungarian: vagyon (hu)
• Italian: abbondanza (it) f
• Japanese: 豊富 (ja) (hōfu)

• Javanese: bandha (jv)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: دۆڵه‌مه‌ندی‎ (ku) (doLamandee), سامان‎ (ku) (sAmAn)

• Latvian: mantība f, bagātība f, labklājība f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Riekdom

• Polish: bogactwo (pl) n, mnóstwo (pl)
• Portuguese: abundância (pt) f
• Russian: бога́тство (ru) n (bogátstvo), изоби́лие (ru) n (izobílije)
• Scottish Gaelic: beartas m
• Swedish: rikedom (sv) c, förmögenhet (sv) c, välstånd (sv) c
• Turkish: bolluk (tr), varlıklılık (tr)

power, of the kind associated with a great deal of money

• Dutch: vermogen (nl) n
• Finnish: rikkaus (fi)
• Japanese: 富 (ja) (tomi)

• Portuguese: poder (pt) m
• Swedish: makt (sv) c, mäktighet c, välgång (sv) c

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

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} weelde (nl) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} richesse (fr) f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ricchezza (it) f
• Korean: 재산 (jaesan)
• Latin: divitiae f pl
• Mandarin: 財富, 财富 (cáifù)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} ثروت‎ (fa) (servat)

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} avere (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} bogăție (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: богатство n

  Roman: bogatstvo n, imućnost f

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} bogatstvo (sh) n
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} riqueza (es) f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} సంపద (te) (sampada) (saMpada)

Further reading

• wealth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wealth in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "wealth" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 331.