English

happy

/ˈhæpi/
Having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquillity; blissful, contented, joyous.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
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    Origin

    From Middle English happy (“fortunate, happy”), perhaps an alteration of Middle English happyn, happen (“fortunate, happy”), possibly related to or from Old Norse heppinn (“fortunate, happy”); and potentially assimilated to be equivalent to hap (“chance, luck, fortune”) + -y. Compare also Icelandic heppinn (“lucky”), Faroese heppin (“fortunate, lucky, happy”), Norwegian Nynorsk heppen (“lucky”), Scots happin (“fortunate, blessed”). See further at hap.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishhappy
      • partMiddle Englishhap
        • borrowedOld Norsehapp
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*hampą
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*kob-
      • partMiddle English-y
        • derivedMiddle English-ie
          • derivedOld French-ie
        • inheritedOld English-iġ
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*-g
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*-i
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*-ōn
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*-ōną

    Related: Icelandic heppinn, Faroese heppin, Norwegian Nynorsk heppen, Scots happin

    Sources