euphoria

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin euphoria,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek εὐφορία (euphoría, “power of enduring easily; fertility”),^[6][7][8] from εὔφορος (eúphoros, “bearing well, healthy”),^[6][7][4] formed from εὖ (eû, “well”) and φέρω (phérō, “to bear, carry”),^[6][7][2] from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[7][2] The OED treats it as a direct borrowing from Greek.^[6] An English form euphory was also used,^[3][8] and the word shares its elements with bear.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A medical term: the ease or relief that a sick person feels from a medicine or treatment, recorded from 1684 (in the form euphory in Barnhart) to 1706.^[6][8][7]

Semantic evolution

In 18th-century medicine the word meant well-being, the ease and comfort of a healthy person, especially when felt by a sick one: Etymonline dates this to 1727, and the OED quotes Chambers's Cyclopædia (1728).^[7][6] The ordinary, non-technical sense of a strong feeling of happiness and well-being appears in 1882, in the letters of William James;^[8][7] Barnhart takes it as an extension of the older medical sense, and Etymonline suggests it may be a reintroduction.^[8][7] The adjective euphoric followed in 1888.^[8] The word is now used especially of an elation that is groundless or out of proportion to its cause, or that marks a mental illness or the effect of a drug.^[5][3][9]

Timeline

• 1684 – euphory, relief given to a patient by a medicine or treatment (obsolete by 1706).^[6][8][7]
• 1728 – well-being, the comfort of a healthy person, especially as felt by a sick one, in Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[6] Etymonline dates this sense to 1727, and Merriam-Webster to about 1751.^[7][5]
• 1882 – a strong feeling of happiness and well-being, in William James's letters.^[8][7]
• 1888 – the adjective euphoric.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong feeling of happiness, confidence and well-being; elation: After the final whistle, the town was swept by euphoria.^[9][5][3]
2. Such a feeling that is groundless or out of proportion to its cause, as a symptom of mental illness or the effect of a drug.^[5][3][9]
3. (obsolete, 1684–1706) The relief a patient feels from a medicine or treatment.^[6][8]

Word family

• euphoric
• euphorically
• euphoriant
• euphorigenic

Related words

• dysphoria
• eu-
• metaphor
• semaphore

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins