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bliss

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Bliss

English

Etymology

From Middle English bliss, from Old English bliss, variant of earlier blīds, blīþs (“joy, gladness”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþisi (“joy, goodness, kindness”).

Pronunciation

Noun

bliss (countable and uncountable, plural blisses)

  1. Perfect happiness.
    The afternoon at the spa was utter bliss.
    • a. 1851, William Wordsworth, “The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, →OCLC, page 188:
      Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!
    • 1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 116:
      What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly, by a feeling of bliss—absolute bliss!—as though you'd suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into every particle, into every finger and toe?
    • 1980, Daryl Hall, Janna Allen, “Kiss on My List”, in Voices‎, performed by Hall & Oates:
      When they insist on knowing my bliss
      I tell them this
      When they want to know what the reason is
      I only smile when I lie, then I tell them why
    • 2002, CYNE, “Steady”, in Movements‎:
      So who is this saying that money is bliss?
      Your logic remiss
      You and the devil about to kiss

Derived terms

Translations

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Old English

Etymology

From earlier blīds, blīþs, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþisi.

Pronunciation

Noun

bliss f

  1. joy, bliss
    • 10th century, Exeter Book Riddle 8‎:
      Iċ…, eald ǣfensceōp, eorlum bringe blisse in burgum.
      I…, old evening scop, bring bliss in towns for brave men.
    • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church
      ...ðā ðā hǣðenan āhēowon þæt trēow mid ormǣtre blisse, þæt hit brastliende sāh tō ðām hālgan were, hetelīċe swīðe. Þā worhte hē onġēan ðām hrēosendum trēowe þǣs Hǣlendes rōde tācn, and hit ðǣrrihte ætstōd, wende ðā onġēan, and hrēas underbæc, and fornēan offēoll ðā ðe hit ǣr forcurfon.
      Then the heathens cut down the tree with great joy, so that, rustling, it fell towards the holy man very violently. Then he made the sign of the Savior's cross to the falling tree, and it immediately stood still, turned around, and fell backwards, and almost fell upon those who had previously cut it.

Inflection

Strong ō-stem:

More information singular, plural ...

Descendants

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