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felicity

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "felicity", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "felicity" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "felicity" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

felicity is aEnglishnoun. It means: Happiness; (countable) an instance of this. Pronounced /fɪˈlɪsɪti/. Often confused with ferocity and Felicia.

Key facts for felicity
PropertyValue
Headwordfelicity
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/fɪˈlɪsɪti/
Letters8
Frequency rank#18,076
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of felicity in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for felicity is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɪˈlɪsɪti/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,076 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for felicity, with forms such as "eflicity", "feilcity", and "felciity". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "ferocity", "Felicia", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French félicité (“bl… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is felicity, spelled F-E-L-I-C-I-T-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Happiness; (countable) an instance of this.
  2. 2
    An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words.
  3. 3
    Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic.
  4. 4
    Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.
  5. 5
    Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.
  6. 6
    Period (as opposed to lifetime) utility.

Etymology

From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French félicité (“bliss, happiness; felicity”)), from Latin fēlīcitātem, the accusative singular of fēlīcitās (“fertility, fruitfulness; happiness, felicity; good fortune; success”), from fēlīx (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: eflicity,feilcity,felciity,feliccity,felicitty,felicityy,feliciyt,felictiy,feliicty,fellicity,ffelicity,fleicity

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for felicity

Misspelling Variants of "felicity"

eflicity8feilcity8felciity8feliccity9felicitty9felicityy9feliciyt8felictiy8
Misspelling Variants of "felicity"

Frequency rank: #18,076 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "felicity"?
"felicity" is spelled F-E-L-I-C-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /fɪˈlɪsɪti/.
What does "felicity" mean?
As a noun, "felicity" means: Happiness; (countable) an instance of this.
What words are commonly confused with "felicity"?
"felicity" is commonly confused with "ferocity", "Felicia". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "felicity"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "felicity" is /fɪˈlɪsɪti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "felicity"?
From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French fél... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.