happy

A1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈhæpi/ UK /ˈhæpi/ See IPA manual

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.

Word forms

The same word in different grammatical forms.

Adjective

Base form: happy
The children look happy.
Comparative: happier
They look happier today.
Superlative: happiest
This is the happiest I have seen them.

Use the comparative to compare two things or actions. Use the superlative for the highest or lowest degree in a group.

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

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

Related forms lucky pleasure

Appears in

Phrases (4)

See all

happy birthday
a conventional greeting used to wish someone well on their birthday

Adjective + noun
a happy couple
two people in a relationship who appear content and well-matched

Adjective + noun
happy ending
a conclusion to a story or situation that is positive and satisfying

Adjective + noun
happy marriage
a marriage characterized by contentment and mutual satisfaction

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (8)

See all

Simplified etymology

Happy derives from hap, a Middle English word for “fortune” or “chance.” It originally meant “favoured by fortune” and acquired its familiar sense of feeling pleasure in the early 16th century; the same hap survives in hapless, happen, and perhaps.

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

External links

# happy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhæpi/
**IPA (UK):** /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

markdown