happy

Syllables: hap·py/ˈhæpi/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈhapɪj/

happy adjective: having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquillity; blissful, contented, joyous.

Image: BORNTHISWAYMEDIA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

happy (comparative happier or more happy, superlative happiest or most happy)

Having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquillity; blissful, contented, joyous.
- Music makes me feel happy.
- Happye are thy men, and happie are these thy seruantes[…]1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, II. Cronicles...
Synonyms:

cheerful, content, delighted, elated, exultant, glad, joyful, jubilant, merry

Antonyms:

blue, depressed, down, miserable, moody, morose, sad, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious
Experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; favored by fortune or luck; fortunate, lucky.
- […] I think I may presume that what I have hitherto Diſcourſed will induce you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding Experiments than the Cauſes of them; or in aſſigning the Principles by which they may beſt be explain’d.1661, Robert Boyle, “The Conclusion”, in The Sceptical Chymist, London: J. Cadwell, →OCLC, page 429
- "Historians, you think," said Miss Tilney, "are not happy in their flights of fancy. They display imagination without raising interest. […]"1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818)...
Synonyms:

fortunate, lucky, charmed, fortuitous, freak, providential, serendipitous, sonsy

Antonyms:

unfortunate, unlucky
1. (archaic) Elect or saved after death, blessed.
  - How fares it with the happy dead?1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 66
Content, willing, satisfied (with or to do something); having no objection (to something).
- Are you happy to pay me back by the end of the week?
- Yes, I am happy with the decision.
Synonyms:

pleased

Antonyms:

disenchanted, dissatisfied
(usually, events, speech) Bringing or being an instance of favourable fortune; apt, felicitous, fortunate, propitious.
- happy coincidence
- The common privilege of your ſex affords you the happy opportunity of alleviating your ſorrows by communicating your ſentiments and feelings to some faithful friend; but to women, even this relief is rigidly denied, and, bound by the harſh reſtraints which the delicacy and reſerve of female natures...1792, James Thomson, “Letter XXXI. From the Hon. Miss Wilton to Mr. Benfield.”, in The Denial; or, The Happy Retreat, 2nd corr. edition, volume 1, London, →OCLC, page 185
Antonyms:

inapt, unfelicitous, unfortunate, unpropitious
(in-compounds) Favoring or inclined to use.
- slaphappy, trigger-happy
- We live in a sue-happy society. If Santa slides off your roof and busts his tailbone, he could sue you, and probably will.2002, Dan Benson, “Stupid Mistake #9: Following Fads vs. Staying the Course”, in 12 Stupid Mistakes People Make with Their Money, Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 128
(often, rare) Dexterous, ready, skilful.
- For inſtance, one lady can give an anſwer better than aſk a queſtion: one gentleman is happy at a reply; another excels in a rejoinder: one can revive a languiſhing converſation by a ſudden ſurpriſing ſentence; another is more dextrous in ſeconding; a third can fill the gap with laughing, or...1761, Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, Edinburgh, introduction, page iii
Implying “May you have a happy ⁓” or similar; used in phrases to wish someone happiness or good fortune at the time of a festival, celebration, or other event or activity.
- Happy birthday!
- Happy Fourth of July!

Noun

happy (plural happies)

(informal, rare) A happy event, thing, person, etc.
- The strike split the Chicano community. Many workers at Farah crossed picket lines and continued to keep the plant operating. They were known as the "happies" because they wore buttons which featured a smiling face and the slogan, "I'm happy at Farah. …"1994, Lauri Coyle, Gail Hershatter, Emily Honig, “‘Why Did I Put Up With It All These Years’: The Farah Strike”, in Maxine Schwartz Seller, editor, Immigrant Women (SUNY Series in Ethnicity and Race...

Verb

happy (third-person singular simple present happies, present participle happying, simple past and past participle happied)

(informal, intransitive) Often followed by up: to become happy; to brighten up, to cheer up.
- Whenever I started drinking again after abstaining for any period of time, it usually was an effort to relieve stress and to "happy up."2001, John L. Bullion, “Jokes”, in In the Boat with LBJ, Plano, Tex.: Republic of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 294
- [H]e smiled […] then asked my name. He checked it against his clipboard then sadly shook his head as if he'd been rejected himself. Told him I was looking for employment and he happied up again, able to help by directing me to apply at the front office, that the doors were on the Gower Street side.2016 July 18, Wayne Kaatz, chapter 11, in Stuck on Earth, Bloomington, Ind.: Archway Publishing, →ISBN
Synonyms:

blithen, cheer up, chirk, liven up, perk up
(informal, transitive) Often followed by up: to make happy; to brighten, to cheer, to enliven.
- People really didn't want their Party Motivators in their photos, anonymous dancers, happying up the place. It spooked them.2007, Mireille Juchau, “Sanctuary”, in Burning In, Artarmon, N.S.W.: Giramondo Publishing for the Writing & Society Research Group, University of Western Sydney, →ISBN, page 201
- […] [William] Glasser would probably say that happy people are "happying" themselves by choosing behaviors that help them to feel happy (working at their relationships, engaging in productive work activities, participating in desired recreational activities, etc.).2015 October 26, Nickolas Martin, Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN
Synonyms:

bright, cheer up, happify, perk up, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, cheer, fetch

Proper noun capitalized: Happy

Happy (countable and uncountable, plural Happys)

A male given name.
A surname transferred from the nickname.
An unincorporated community in White County, Arkansas.
A township in Graham County, Kansas.
An unincorporated community in Perry County, Kentucky.
A town in Randall County and Swisher County, Texas.

happy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

happy in Hindi

contented, joyous: सुखी sukhī, ख़ुश xuś, प्रसन्न prasann
fortunate, lucky: ख़ुश xuś, प्रसन्न prasann

happy in Marathi

happy: खुश khuś
happy, joyful: आनंदी ānandī

happy in Urdu

contented, joyous: خوش xuś, سکھی sukhī, پرسن prasann

More languagesFewer languages

happy in Bengali: খুশি khuśi
happy in Telugu: ప్రశాంతం praśāntaṁ, ప్రసన్నత prasannata, అదృవ్ష్టవంతమైన adr̥vṣṭavantamaina
happy in Malayalam: സന്തോഷിപ്പിക്കുന്ന santōṣippikkunna, സന്തുഷ്ട santuṣṭa
happy in Kannada: ಸಂತೋಷವಾಗಿದೆ, ಸಂತೋಷವಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಸಂತೋಷ
happy in Punjabi: ਸ਼ਾਦ śād, ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ xuś, ਰਾਜ਼ੀ rāzī, ਮੁਬਾਰਕ mubārak
happy in Gujarati: ખુશ khuś, મુબારક mubārak, સુખી sukhī
happy in Odia: ଭଲ bhala, ସମୃଦ୍ଧ samruddha
happy in Sanskrit: सुखिन् sukhin, प्रसन्न prasanna
happy in Assamese: সুখী xukhi
happy in Nepali: खुसी khusī
happy in Tagalog: masaya, suwerte, maligaya
happy in Arabic: سَعِيد saʕīd, فَرِح fariḥ, مَحْظُوظ maḥẓūẓ
happy in Malay: bahagia, gembira, suka hati
happy in Indonesian: senang, untung, mujur
happy in Persian: شاد šâd, خوش xoš, خوشحال xošhâl, خرم xorram
happy in Thai: มีความสุข mee kwaam sòok, ดีใจ dii-jai, ยินดี yin-dii
happy in Vietnamese: mừng, vui, hạnh phúc, sướng
happy in Myanmar: ရွှင်ပျ hrwangpya., ပျော် pyau

Examples of happy in a sentence

Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 144:15:
For the moſt happy univerſe is not one that conſiſts of the greateſt poſſible number of the moſt happy beings only ;[…]1731, Thomas Bayes, Divine Benevolence, London, page 73:
But since the happy are sufficient to themselves they have no need of friends; and hence it is said,1807, “That the Happy Man has Need of Worthy Friends”, in William Bridgman, transl., The Paraphrase of an Anonymous Greek Writer, (hitherto...
A strong acid is also a substance whose conjugate base (obviously a weak base) is quite happy with the excess electrons it got from that bond.2007, Iver David Reingold, “Substitution Reactions”, in Organic Chemistry, or, “The Happy Carbon”: An Introduction Emphasizing Biological...

All 40 example sentences with happy

Synonyms of happy

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of happy

Forms of happy

Adjective
comparative	happier
comparative	more happy
superlative	happiest
superlative	most happy
alternative form (obsolete)	happie
Noun
plural	happies
Verb
third-person singular present	happies
present participle	happying
past participle	happied
past	happied
Proper noun
plural	Happys

Origin of happy

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.

Words formed from happy

Phrases with happy

80 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with happy

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about happy

What does happy mean?: Happy means having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquillity; blissful, contented, joyous.
What is happy in Hindi?: Happy in Hindi is सुखी (sukhī), ख़ुश (xuś), प्रसन्न (prasann). See Happy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use happy in a sentence?: Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.
What part of speech is happy?: Happy can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce happy?: Happy is pronounced /ˈhæpi/ (UK).

Words near happy in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: happy (page history and authors); Happy (page history and authors); happy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आनंदी (Marathi) (page history and authors); happy (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ખુશ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଭଲ (Odia) (page history and authors); खुसी (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-happy.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-happy.wav, en-au-happy.ogg.

Cite this entry: “happy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/happy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.