welfare

English

Etymology

From Middle English welfare, probably from the Old English phrase wel faran (“to fare well, get along successfully, prosper”) (cognate with Middle Low German wolvare (“welfare”), Old Norse velferð, Swedish välfärd, German Wohlfahrt and Dutch welvaart.) Equivalent to well +‎ fare.

The first recorded use in the sense of "social concern for the well-being of children, the unemployed, etc." is from 1904 and in the sense of "organized effort to provide for maintenance of members of a group" from 1918.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛlˌfɛə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/

Noun

welfare (usually uncountable, plural welfares)

1. (uncountable) Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

2. (uncountable, chiefly US) Various forms of financial aid provided by the government to those who are in need of it (often called welfare assistance in UK English).

   Synonyms: income support, public assistance, social security

3. (chiefly US) Such payment.

Derived terms

• animal welfare
• antiwelfare
• corporate welfare bum
• postwelfare
• prewelfare
• welfare bum
• welfare Cadillac
• welfare hotel
• welfare mother
• welfare parasite
• welfare princess
• welfare queen
• welfare rat
• welfare state
• welfare-to-work
• welfare trap

 

Translations

health, safety, well-being, happiness and prosperity

• Arabic: رَفَاهَة‎ f (rafāha)
• Bulgarian: благополучие (bg) n (blagopolučie), благоденствие (bg) n (blagodenstvie)
• Catalan: benestar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 福利 (zh) (fúlì), 幸福 (zh) (xìngfú), 康樂 (zh), 康乐 (zh) (kānglè)

• Czech: blaho n, blahobyt (cs) m
• Danish: lykke (da) c, velfærd (da) c
• Dutch: welzijn (nl) n
• Esperanto: bonstato, bonfarto
• Finnish: hyvinvointi (fi)
• French: bien-être (fr) m
• Galician: benestar (gl) f
• German: Wohlergehen (de) n, Wohlfahrt (de) f
• Greek: ευημερία (el) f (evimería)
• Hungarian: jólét (hu), boldogulás (hu)
• Japanese: 幸せ (ja) (しあわせ, shiawase), 幸福 (ja) (こうふく, kōfuku)
• Latvian: labklājība f

• Macedonian: благосо́стојба f (blagosóstojba)
• Malayalam: ക്ഷേമം (ml) (kṣēmaṃ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: velferd (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: velferd f

• Persian: رفاه‎ (fa) (refâh)
• Plautdietsch: Heil n
• Portuguese: bem-estar (pt) m
• Russian: благосостоя́ние (ru) n (blagosostojánije), благополу́чие (ru) n (blagopolúčije)
• Slovak: blaho n, blahobyt m
• Slovene: blaginja f
• Spanish: bienestar (es) m
• Tagalog: kagalingan (tl)
• Telugu: సంక్షేమము (te) (saṅkṣēmamu)
• Thai: สวัสดิภาพ (th) (sà-wàt-dì-pâap)
• Turkish: refah (tr), gönenç (tr)

aid, provided by a government, etc.

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: benestar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 福利 (zh) (fúlì), 社會福利, 社会福利 (shèhuì fúlì)

• Danish: forsorg c
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: sosiaaliavustus, sosiaalituki
• French: aide sociale (fr) f
• Galician: beneficencia f, seguridade social f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Sozialhilfe (de) f, Wohlfahrt (de) f
• Greek: πρόνοια (el) f (prónoia)
• Hindi: खैरियत (hi) (khairiyat)
• Hungarian: segély (hu), juttatás (hu), támogatás (hu)

• Japanese: 福祉 (ja) (ふくし, fukushi)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 복지(福祉) (ko) (bokji)
• Macedonian: соција́лна по́мош f (socijálna pómoš)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: socjal (pl) m, zasiłek (pl) m
• Portuguese: segurança social f
• Russian: социа́льная по́мощь f (sociálʹnaja pómoščʹ)
• Slovak: sociálna pomoc f
• Spanish: seguridad social
• Thai: สวัสดิการ (th) (sà-wàt-dì-gaan)
• Turkish: yardım (tr), sosyal yardım (tr)
• Urdu: خیریت‎
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Verb

welfare (third-person singular simple present welfares, present participle welfaring, simple past and past participle welfared)

1. (transitive) To provide with welfare or aid.

   welfaring the poor

See also

• evilfare
• hellfare

• illfare
• woefare

• wofare
• workfare

Further reading

• welfare at OneLook Dictionary Search
• "welfare" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 332.

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛlˌfɛr/
• Rhymes: -ɛr

Noun

welfare m (invariable)

1. welfare state