Felicity

How to spell felicity

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce felicity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does felicity mean?

1. nounIntense or complete happiness; a state of blissful contentment.
2. nounA particularly apt, graceful, or well-chosen quality in writing or speech.

Felicity in a sentence

• The couple spoke of the quiet felicity of their first year together.

• The editor admired the felicity of her opening paragraph.

• Retirement brought him a sense of felicity he had never expected.

• He summarised the report with surprising felicity.

Where does felicity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Felicity comes from the Latin felicitas, meaning 'happiness', 'good fortune', or 'fruitfulness', which was built on the adjective felix. That root literally described something fertile or fruitful, like a tree heavy with produce, and from that idea of abundance it shifted to mean lucky, blessed, and happy. English took the word in during the 1300s through Old French felicite, keeping the sense of deep happiness or blessedness. The same felix root survives in the personal name Felix and in the word 'felicitate', meaning to congratulate. A later, more literary sense developed too, where a felicity is a particularly apt or pleasing turn of phrase; the spelling trap is the single 'l' and the soft 'c' giving an 's' sound in the unstressed middle.

How the word is built

• felic- (from Latin felix: happy, fortunate)
• -ity (noun suffix forming a state or quality)