FromMiddle Englishwelefare, probably from theOld English phrasewel faran(“to fare well, get along successfully, prosper”) (cognate withMiddle Dutchwelvare(“welfare”),Middle Low Germanwolvare(“welfare”),Middle High Germanwolvar,wolfar(“welfare”)). Equivalent towell +fare. Compare alsoWest Frisianwolfeart,Dutchwelvaart,GermanWohlfahrt,Old Norsevelferð (whenceSwedishvälfärd(“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 maintenance of members of a group" from 1918.[1]
welfare (usuallyuncountable,pluralwelfares)
- (uncountable)Health,safety,happiness andprosperity;well-being in any respect.
1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the commonwelfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
- (uncountable, chiefly US, informal) Shortened form of "welfare spending", "welfare payments", or "welfare assistance".
- Synonyms:(UK)welfare assistance,income support,public assistance,social security
health, safety, well-being, happiness and prosperity
- Arabic:رَفَاهَة f(rafāha),خَيْر m(ḵayr)
- Belarusian:дабрабы́т m(dabrabýt),шча́сце n(ščáscje)(happiness)
- Bulgarian:благополу́чие (bg) n(blagopolúčie),благоде́нствие (bg) n(blagodénstvie)
- Catalan:benestar (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin:福利 (zh)(fúlì),幸福 (zh)(xìngfú),康樂 /康乐 (zh)(kānglè)
- Czech:blaho (cs) n,blahobyt (cs) m
- Danish:lykke (da) c,velfærd (da) c
- Dutch:welzijn (nl) n
- Esperanto:bonstato,bonfarto
- Finnish:hyvinvointi (fi)
- French:bien-être (fr) m
- Galician:benestar (gl) f
- German:Wohlergehen (de) n,Wohlfahrt (de) f
- Greek:ευημερία (el) f(evimería)
- Hebrew:רְוָחָה (he) f(r'vaẖá)
- Hindi:कल्याण (hi) m(kalyāṇ),कौशल (hi) m(kauśal),ख़ैर f(xair)
- Hungarian:jólét (hu),boldogulás (hu)
- Indonesian:kesejahteraan (id)
- Japanese:幸せ (ja)(しあわせ, shiawase),幸福 (ja)(こうふく, kōfuku),福祉 (ja)(ふくし, fukushi)
- Korean:행복(幸福) (ko)(haengbok),복지(福祉) (ko)(bokji)
- Latvian:labklājība f
- Macedonian:благосостојба f(blagosostojba)
- Malay:کباجيقن(kebajikan)
- Malayalam:ക്ഷേമം (ml)(kṣēmaṁ)
- Maori:tokoora
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål:velferd (no) m orf
- Nynorsk:velferd f
- Ottoman Turkish:عمارت(ʼimaret),عمران(ʼümran)
- Persian:رفاه (fa)(refâh)
- Plautdietsch:Heil n
- Polish:dobrobyt (pl) m
- Portuguese:bem-estar (pt) m
- Russian:благосостоя́ние (ru) n(blagosostojánije),благополу́чие (ru) n(blagopolúčije),сча́стье (ru) n(sčástʹje)(happiness)
- Slovak:blaho n,blahobyt m
- Slovene:blaginja f
- Spanish:bienestar (es) m
- Swedish:välfärd (sv)
- Tagalog:kagalingan (tl)
- Telugu:సంక్షేమము (te)(saṅkṣēmamu)
- Thai:สวัสดิภาพ (th)(sà-wàt-dì-pâap)
- Turkish:refah (tr),gönenç (tr)
- Ukrainian:благополу́ччя (uk) n(blahopolúččja),добро́бут m(dobróbut),благоде́нство (uk) n(blahodénstvo),ща́стя (uk) n(ščástja)(happiness)
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aid, provided by a government, etc.
welfare (third-person singular simple presentwelfares,present participlewelfaring,simple past and past participlewelfared)
- (transitive) To provide with welfare or aid.
- welfaring the poor
- “welfare”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
- "welfare" in Raymond Williams,Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 332.
Unadapted borrowing fromEnglishwelfare.
welfare m (invariable)
- welfare state
stato sociale,benessere
