Mayra San
Tutor della Community
What is the difference between happiness and felicity? Should I use happiness or felicity? Recently, I saw the name Felicity Hoffman and I ask myself that question.
16 mag 2014 06:02
Risposte · 9
Happiness is more usually used.
16 maggio 2014
Yes, it's old-fashioned. I saw the word "felicity" the thing that popped into my mind was the line from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "absent thee from felicity awhile," written in 1600. Shakespeare's English is so old-fashioned that most native English speakers--if they are honest anyway!--would admit to having trouble understanding it. I'm not sure I have ever seen "felicity" used anywhere else. "Felicitous" is a little more common, but it is a somewhat "literary" word. It can mean "very nicely phrased" or "very appropriate."
16 maggio 2014
'Felicity' is not a normal everyday word at all in modern English. You might see it in a poem or text from several hundred years ago, but nobody would use it now. In fact I would guess that a large proportion of native speakers wouldn't even know what the word means. It is is girl's name, though.
16 maggio 2014
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