happy

A1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈhæpi/ See IPA manual

adj Freq #288

Meanings

1

adj
Feeling or showing pleasure and joy.

She gave me a happy smile.
2

adj
Willing and pleased to do something.

I'm happy to help you with your homework.
3

adj
Lucky or fortunate.

By a happy coincidence, we were both in Paris that week.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · feeling or showing pleasure... cheerful content delighted glad joyful merry

2 adj · willing and pleased to do... pleased

3 adj · lucky or fortunate. fortunate lucky

More berserk blithe blithesome bonnie bright buoyant cheerly cheerychuffedcock-a-hoop

Opposites

dejected depresseddiscontenteddissatisfied gloomy miserable sad unhappy

Word family

Forms happierhappiest

Derived forms dance-happydemob-happyflag-happygate-happygun-happyhappificationhappifyhappilesshappily happinesshappy-clappyhappy-go-lucky

Related forms lucky pleasure

Common collocations

Etymology

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.

happy Middle English happyn Middle English heppinn Old Norse

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

# happy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈhæpi
**Frequency rank:** 288

## Meanings
1. Feeling or showing pleasure and joy.
2. Willing and pleased to do something.
3. Lucky or fortunate.

## Examples
- She gave me a happy smile.
- I'm happy to help you with your homework.
- By a happy coincidence, we were both in Paris that week.

## Synonyms
- berserk
- blithe
- blithesome
- bonnie
- bright
- buoyant
- cheerful
- cheerly
- cheery
- chuffed
- cock-a-hoop
- content

## Antonyms
- dejected
- depressed
- discontented
- dissatisfied
- gloomy
- miserable
- sad
- unhappy

## Derived Forms
- dance-happy
- demob-happy
- flag-happy
- gate-happy
- gun-happy
- happification
- happify
- happiless
- happily
- happiness
- happy-clappy
- happy-go-lucky

## Related Forms
- lucky
- pleasure

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: happy
- Root: happyn
- Root: heppinn

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Happy comes 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. In current use, the main senses are “Feeling or showing pleasure and joy” and “Willing and pleased to do something”.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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happy

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