welfare

B2 Topic:Social Issues & Human Rights

US /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/ UK /ˈwɛlˌfɛə/ See IPA manual

Freq #5913

Meanings

1

noun
The health, happiness, and general well-being of a person or group.

The school cares deeply about the welfare of its students.
2

noun
Money or help that a government gives to people in need.

Many families rely on welfare to support their children.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the health, happiness, and... well-being wellbeing

2 noun · money or help that a... social welfarepublic assistancesocial security

Word family

Derived forms antiwelfarepostwelfareprewelfarewealthfarewelfare-to-workwelfarite

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

social welfare
government assistance provided to people in economic need

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Welfare is a Middle English formation whose first element is well in its adverbial sense of "in a good way."

Etymology

From Middle English welefare, probably from the Old English phrase wel faran (“to fare well, get along successfully, prosper”) (cognate with Middle Dutch welvare (“welfare”), Middle Low German wolvare (“welfare”), Middle High German wolvar, wolfar (“welfare”)). Equivalent to well + fare. Compare also West Frisian wolfeart, Dutch welvaart, German Wohlfahrt, Old Norse velferð (whence Swedish välfärd (“welfare”)). The first recorded use in the sense of "social concern for the well-being of children, the unemployed, etc." is from 1904 and in the sense of "organized effort to provide for maintenanc…

welefare Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Social Issues & Human Rights

External links

# welfare

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈwɛlˌfɛə/
**Frequency rank:** 5913

## Meanings
1. The health, happiness, and general well-being of a person or group.
2. Money or help that a government gives to people in need.

## Examples
- The school cares deeply about the welfare of its students.
- Many families rely on welfare to support their children.

## Derived Forms
- antiwelfare
- postwelfare
- prewelfare
- wealthfare
- welfare-to-work
- welfarite

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: welefare

## Etymology
From Middle English welefare, probably from the Old English phrase wel faran (“to fare well, get along successfully, prosper”) (cognate with Middle Dutch welvare (“welfare”), Middle Low German wolvare (“welfare”), Middle High German wolvar, wolfar (“welfare”)). Equivalent to well + fare. Compare also West Frisian wolfeart, Dutch welvaart, German Wohlfahrt, Old Norse velferð (whence Swedish välfärd (“welfare”)). The first recorded use in the sense of "social concern for the well-being of children, the unemployed, etc." is from 1904 and in the sense of "organized effort to provide for maintenanc…

## AI Etymology
Welfare is from Middle English welefare, probably from the Old English phrase wel faran (“to fare well, get along successfully, prosper”) (cognate with Middle Dutch welvare (“welfare”), Middle Low German wolvare (“welfare”), Middle High German wolvar, wolfar (“welfare”)). Equivalent to well + fare. Compare also West Frisian wolfeart, Dutch welvaart, German Wohlfahrt, Old Norse velferð (whence Swedish välfärd (“welfare”)). The first recorded use in the sense of "social concern for the well-being of children, the unemployed, etc. A key historical form is Middle English welefare. In present-day use, it can mean the health, happiness, and general well-being of a person or group, or money or help that a government gives to people in need.

## Topics
- Social Issues & Human Rights

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