English Explanatory Dictionary

welfare

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
  2. Shortened form of "welfare spending", "welfare payments", or "welfare assistance".
verb
  1. To provide with welfare or aid.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɛlˌfɛə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-welfare.wav /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/

Word forms

welfare welfares welfaring welfared

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 maintenance of members of a group" from 1918.

Synonyms

welfare assistance income support public assistance social security

Related words

evilfare hellfare illfare learnfare woefare wofare workfare

Derived words

animal welfare antiwelfare corporate welfare corporate welfare bum postwelfare prewelfare social welfare wealthfare welfare bum welfare Cadillac welfare capitalism welfare check welfare economics welfare hotel welfare magnet welfare mother welfare parasite welfare princess welfare queen welfare rat welfare state welfare-to-work welfare trap welfarite

Translations

Bulgarian: социа́лна по́мощ Catalan: benestar Chinese Mandarin: 福利 Chinese Mandarin: 社會福利 /社会福利 Danish: forsorg Finnish: sosiaaliavustus Finnish: sosiaalituki French: aide sociale Galician: beneficencia Galician: seguridade social German: Sozialhilfe German: Wohlfahrt Greek: πρόνοια Hungarian: segély Hungarian: juttatás Hungarian: támogatás Japanese: 福祉 Khmer: ជំនួយសុខុមាលភាព Korean: 복지 Macedonian: соција́лна помош Māori: tokoora Polish: socjal Polish: zasiłek Portuguese: segurança social Russian: социа́льная по́мощь Slovak: sociálna pomoc Spanish: seguridad social Thai: สวัสดิการ Turkish: yardım Turkish: sosyal yardım Urdu: خیریت Vietnamese: phúc lợi
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