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Definition: Fortune |
FortuneNoun1. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; "bad luck caused his downfall"; "we ran into each other by pure chance". 2. A large amount of wealth or prosperity. 3. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome; "it was my good luck to be there"; "they say luck is a lady"; "it was as if fortune guided his hand". 4. Your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you): "whatever my fortune may be"; "deserved a better fate"; "has a happy lot"; "the luck of the Irish"; "a victim of circumstances"; "success that was her portion". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Fortune" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "a fortune". |
Date "fortune" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Fortune Fortune favours the brave. ("Fortes fortuna adjuvat.") (Terence: Phormio, i. 4.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The magazine Fortune was founded by Time Magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1930 at the outset of the Great Depression. It was considered America's first business journal.Fortune is now part of the media conglomerate AOL Time Warner.
Fortune publishes two influential lists of companies:
as well as an annual list of the wealthiest individuals and families in the world.
- Fortune 500
- Fortune 1000
External Links
- Fortune website
- A history of Fortune
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Fortune."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Wealth usually refers to money and property. It is the abundance of objects of value and also the state of having accumulated these objects. The use of the word itself assumes some socially-accepted means of identifying objects, land, or money as "belonging to" someone, i.e. a broadly accepted notion of property and a means of protection of that property that can be invoked with minimal (or, ideally, no) effort and expense on the part of the owner. Concepts of wealth vary among societies.
The Anthropological view of Wealth
Anthropology characterizes societies, in part, based on a society's concept of wealth, and the institutional structures and power used to protect this wealth. Several types are defined below. They can be viewed as an evolutionary progression.
A rudimentary notion of wealth
- Great Apes seem to have notions of "turf" and control of food-gathering ranges, but it is questionable whether they understand this as a form of wealth. They acquire and use limited tools but these objects typically do not change, are simple to re-create, and therefore are unlikely to be seen as objects of wealth. Gorillas seem to have the capacity to recognize and protect pets and children, but this seems less an idea of wealth than of family.
The interpersonal concept of wealth
- Hominoids, including all human ancestors, seem to have started with incipient ideas of wealth, similar to that of the great apes. But as tools, clothing, and other mobile infrastructural capital became important to survival (especially in hostile biomes), ideas such as the inheritance of wealth, political positions, leadership, and ability to control group movements (to perhaps reinforce such power) emerged. Neanderthal societies had elaborate funerary rites and cave painting which implies at least a notion of shared assets that could be spent for social purposes, or preserved for social purposes. Wealth may have been collective.
Wealth as the accumulation of non-necessities
- Humans back to and including the Cro-Magnons seem to have had clearly defined rulers and status hierarchies. Digs in Russia have revealed elaborate funeral clothing on a pair of children buried there over 35,000 years ago. This indicates a considerable accumulation of wealth by some individuals or families. The high artisan skill also suggest the capacity to direct specialized labor to tasks that are not of any utility to the group's survival.
Wealth as control of arable land
- Irrigation and urbanization, especially in ancient Sumer and later Egypt, are thought to have triggered a shift that unified the ideas of wealth and control of land and agriculture. To Feed a large stable population, it was possible and necessary to achieve universal cultivation and city-state protection. The notion of the state and the notion of war are said to have emerged at this time. Tribal cultures were formalized into what we would call feudal systems, and many obligations were assumed by monarchy and related aristocracy. Protection of infrastructural capital built up over generations became critical: city walls, irrigation systems, sewage systems, aqueducts, buildings, all impossible to replace within a single generation, and thus a matter of social survival to maintain. The social capital of entire societies was often defined in terms of its relation to infrastructural capital ( e.g. castles or forts or an allied monastery, cathedral or temple), and natural capital, (i.e. the land that supplied locally grown food). Agricultural economics continues these traditions in the analyses of modern agricultural policy and related ideas of wealth, e.g. the ark of taste model of agricultural wealth.
The capitalist notion of wealth
- Industrialization emphasized the role of technology. Many jobs were automated. Machines replaced some workers while other workers became more specialized. Labour specialization became critical to economic success. However, physical capital, as it came to be known, consisting of both the natural capital (raw materials from nature) and the infrastructural capital (facilitating technology), became the focus of the analysis of wealth. Adam Smith saw wealth creation as the combination of materials, labour, land, and technology in such a way as to capture a profit. The theories of David Ricardo, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and later, Karl Marx, in the 18th century and 19th century built on these views of wealth that we now call classical economics and Marxist economics.
Other Concepts of Wealth
Global wealth
- Michel Foucault commented that the concept of Man as an aggregate did not exist before the 18th century. The shift from the analysis of an individual's wealth to the concept of an aggregation of all men is implied in the concepts of political economy and then economics. This transition took place as a result of a cultural bias inherent in the Enlightenment. Wealth was seen as an objective fact of living as a human being in a society.
Zero-Sum Game
- Some people believe wealth is a zero-sum game, where there is a limited amount of wealth and some must lose in order for others to gain. As a result they are concerned primarily with issues of wealth distribution rather than wealth creation.
- Others believe that wealth can be readily created. They feel that wealth is not a fixed amount to be distributed. To most of these people, organizing a society so as to optimize the growth of wealth is more important than distribution issues. Many of these people believe in some version of the trickle-down theory in which newly created wealth "trickles down" to all strata of society, thereby making the question of distribution mute.
- One's attitude towards this issue affects the design of the social or economic system that one prefers.
The non-normative concept of wealth
- Neoclassical economics tries to be non-normative for the most part, to be objective and free of value statements. If it is successful, then wealth would be defined in such a way that it would not be preconceived to be either positive or negative. This objective has not always been the case. In prior eras wealth was assumed to be a set of means of persuasion.
- It was often seen as self-interested arguments by the powerful explaining why they should remain in power. In The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli had commented in that earlier era on the prudent use of wealth, and the need to tolerate some cruelty and vice in the use of it, in order to maintain appearances of strength and power.
- Jane Jacobs in the 1960s and 70s offered the observation that there were two different moral syndromes that were common attitudes to wealth and power, and that the one more associated with guardianship did in fact require a degree of ostentacious conspicuous consumption if only to impress others.
- This logic is almost entirely absent from neoclassical economics, which in its extreme form argues for the abolition of any political economy apart from the service markets wherein favours may be bought and sold at will, including political ones - the so-called political choice theory popular in the U.S.A. While it is entirely likely that such assumptions apply in the subcultures that dominate modern discourse on technical economics and especially macroeconomics, the less technical notions of wealth and power that are implied in the older theories of economics and ideas of wealth, still continue as daily facts of life.
Non financial wealth
- The 21st century view is that many definitions of wealth can exist and continue to co-exist. Some people talk about measuring the more general concept of Measuring well-being. This is a difficult process but many believe it possible - human development theory being devoted to this. Although these alternative measures of wealth exist, they tend to be overshadowed by, and influenced by, the dominant money supply and banking system. For more on the modern notions of wealth and their interaction see the article on political economy.
The Creation of Wealth
- Wealth is created through several means.
- Natural resources can be harvested and sold to those who want them.
- Material can be changed into something more valuable through proper application of labor and equipment.
- Better methods also create wealth by allowing faster creation of wealth.
- Ideas create wealth by allowing it to be created faster or with new methods.
- For example, consider our early ancestors. Building a house from trees created something of greater value for the builder. Hunting and firewood created food and fed a growing family. Agriculture converted labor into more food and resources. Continuing use of resources and effort has allowed many descendants to own much more than that first house.
- This is still true today. It is more obvious to those working with physical material than to a service worker or knowledge worker. A cubicle worker may not be aware in how many ways their work is creating something which is of more value to their employer than the amount that employer paid to produce it. This profit creates wealth for the owners of the organization. The process also provides income for employees, and suppliers, and it makes the continued existence of the organization possible.
The Limits to Wealth Creation
- There is a debate in the economics literature, usually referred to as the limits to growth debate in which the ecological impact of growth and wealth creation is considered. Many of the wealth creating activities mentioned above (cutting down trees, hunting, farming) have an impact on the environment around us. Sometimes the impact is positive (for example, hunting when herd populations are high) and sometimes the impact is negative (for example, hunting when herd populations are low).
- Most researchers feel that sustained environmental impacts can have an effect on the whole ecosystem. They claim that the accumlated impacts on the ecosystem put a theortical limit on the amount of wealth that can be created. They draw on archeology to cite examples of cultures that they claim have disappeared because they grew beyond the ability of their ecosystems to support them.
- Others are more otimistic. They claim that although localized environmental impacts may occur, large scale ecological effects are either minor (in terms of magnitude) or non-existant. They sometimes claim that if these global scale ecological effects exist, human ingenuity will always find ways of adapting to them. To them, there is no limit to the amount of growth or wealth that this planet will sustain.
The Distribution of wealth
- Societies have different opinions about wealth distribution and of the obligations related to wealth, but from the era of the tribal society to the modern era, there have been means of moderating the acquisition and use of wealth.
- In extremely ecologically rich areas such as those inhabited by the Haida in the Cascadia Pacific East Rim ecoregion, traditions like potlatch kept wealth relatively evenly distributed, requiring leaders to buy continued status and respect with giveaways of wealth to the poorer members of society. Such traditions make what are today often seen as government responsibilities into matters of personal honour.
- In modern societies, the tradition of philanthropy exists. Large donations from funds created by wealthy individuals are highly visible, although small contributions by many people offer a wide variety of support within a society. The existence of organizations which survive on donations indicate that a society has some level of philanthropy.
- In today’s societies much wealth distribution and redistribution is the result of government policies and programs. Government policies like the progressivity or regressivity of the tax system redistribute wealth to the poor or the rich respectively. Government programs like “disaster relief” transfer wealth to people that have suffered a loss due to natural disaster. Social security transfers wealth from the young to the old. Engaging in a war transfers wealth to certain sectors of society. Public education transfers wealth to families with children in these schools. Public road construction transfers wealth from people that do not use the roads to those people that do (and to those that build the roads). Some people resent having to contribute to some of these programs and disparagingly label them social engineering. The mere existence of government, transfers wealth from people in the private sector to people in the public sector. Contrawise, the existence of a private sector transfers wealth from people in the public sector to people in the private sector
- This phenomenon can be understood within a broad theory of political economy, where tradeoffs between means of protection, persuasion and production, and valuations of different styles of capital, are described. Simply put, if the rich do not at least once in a while give away, on their own free will, at least a small part of their richness to the poor, the poor would be much more likely to rebel against the rich.
- The concepts of owning land and accumulating wealth in the form of land, were and are difficult to characterize in Enlightenment terms, bearing more resemblance to modern ideas of bioregionalism or ecological stewardship or natural capital. Ecological economics continues these traditions.
Related articles
- poverty
- wealth condensation
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Wealth."
Synonyms: FortuneSynonyms: chance (n), circumstances (n), destiny (n), fate (n), hazard (n), lot (n), luck (n), portion (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Chance 2 | Noun: chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit; fate; (necessity); equal chance; lottery; tombola; toss up; turn of the table, turn of the cards; hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate; cast of the dice, throw of the dice; heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune; sortes, sortes Virgilianae. |
Wealth | Noun: wealth, riches, fortune, handsome fortune, opulence, affluence; good circumstances, easy circumstances; independence; competence; (sufficiency); solvency. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Fortune |
| English words defined with "fortune": small fortune. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "fortune": Architect of his own Fortune ♦ CAMBRIDGE FORTUNE ♦ FORTUNE HUNTERS ♦ Soldiers of Fortune ♦ Wheel of Fortune. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "fortune": Tychism. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Fortune" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. French (destiny, estate, fate, fortune, luck, luxuriancy, mint, purse, richness, substance, wealth, wealthiness). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | America has made my fortune. (The Godfather; writing credit: Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo. Based on the novel by Mario Puzo.) Wheel Of Fortune. Look at the studio filled with glamorous merchandise (Rain Man; writing credit: Ronald Bass) Bullwinkle, it says here that for you to inherit the fortune, you have to spend the weekend in the ancestral home; Abominable Manor (The Bullwinkle Show; writing credit: Allan Burns; Chris Hayward) Must have cost you a fortune in stamps Ringo (A Hard Day's Night; writing credit: Alun Owen) Saves a fortune on matches (Casanova's Big Night; writing credit: Aubrey Wisberg; Hal Kanter) | |
Lyrics | Who cares for fame and fortune (Fame and Fortune; performing artist: Elvis Presley) One kid dreams of fame and fortune (Only In America; performing artist: Brooks & Dunn) Seekin' my fame and fortune, lookin' for a pot of gold (LODI; performing artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival) I'm riding on the wheel of fortune taking me to places far and free (Feel So High; performing artist: Des'ree) To havin' a fortune, no more kissin' ass (Sing For The Moment; performing artist: EMINEM) | |
Clever | Fortune knocks at every man's door once in a life, but in a good many cases the man is in a neighboring saloon and does not hear her. (references; author: Mark Twain) Life lesson: Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie. (references; author: unknown) A weird thing about humans is we work till we're sick to get a fortune, then pay a fortune to get well again. (references; author: unknown) Man is a peculiar creature. He spends a fortune making his home insect-proof and air-conditioned, and then eats in the yard. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970) Fortune (1969) Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel (1969) The Fortune Cookie (1966) | |
Song Titles | Le Roue de Fortune (performing artist: The Washington Squares) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
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Books | |||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Stairhall, stair, details of balusters. Photograph by Jack E. Boucher, November 1960. (Reproduction Number: HABS, MINN, 62-SAIP,13-7) This carved oak staircase connects the first and second floors of the three-story mansion built for James C. Burbank, a Vermont-born pioneer and major figure in early Minnesota transportation. Burbank, who made his fortune in stage-coach and riverboat traffic, hired the Chicago architect Otis C. Wheelock in 1862 to build him a mansion in the latest style. That style, commonly known as Italianate, features round arches, brackets, belvederes or cupolas, and other architectural elements found in villas and country houses around Italy. Today, the Burbank House is one of the finest early Italianate-style houses in St. Paul. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The Fortune of War. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Doctor Gallipot placing his Fortune at the feet of his Mistress. : Thro' Physic to the Dogs. / Rowlandson. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | When I told him I had four children he cried, Great Scott! four hostages to fortune. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Good fortune arrived for the pair in the shape of a travelling Punch and Judy show. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Wheel of fortune, suggested to continuous performance managers as the next stage in the evolution of other entertainments. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Mr. and Mrs. Tom Stuart, (seated) of Hempstead County, Arkansas, are shown reading the news about their good fortune in becoming the first Negro family in the nation to receive a farm housing loan, authorized by the Housing Act of 1949, which Congress pas. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Cover for Fortune magazine showing telephone lines spanning the globe. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Fortune teller's cubicle, state fair, Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Wheel of fortune. Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Pink cd" by Lorena Molinari Commentary: "The fortune to have a blue table." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Dryden | Fortune befriends the bold. |
Francois De La Rochefoucauld | Fortune and humor govern the world. |
Lucius Annaeus Seneca | A great fortune is a great slavery. |
Ovid | Fortune and love favor the brave. |
Sir Thomas Browne | It is we that are blind, not fortune. |
Terence | Fortune helps the brave. |
Thomas Fuller | Misfortunes tell us what fortune is. |
Virgil | Fortune favors the brave. |
| Fortune sides with him who dares. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | I hope, with all my heart, the young man may be a Weston in merit, and a Churchill in fortune. |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | But, one idle and rainy day, it was my fortune to make a discovery of some little interest |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | No power is without its worshippers, no fortune without its court |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | An abyss of fortune or of temperament sundered him from them |
Time Enough for Love | Robert Heinlein | A fake fortune teller can be tolerated |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | Fortune and victory sit on thy helm |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | The King, who had a much better understanding, dismissing his learned men, sent for the farmer, who by good fortune was not yet gone out of town |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. |
Hamlet | William Shakespeare | To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms a gainst a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | As one of the world’s financial and economic centers, Hong Kong has attracted 400 of the Fortune 500 firms. (references) | |
Over 4,200 companies, including the vast majority of Fortune Magazine's top 100 companies has a UK base. Nearly 40% of all U.S. Investment in Europe is in the UK. U.S Investment in Britain amounts to some U.S. $170 billion. (references) | ||
This prediction was confirmed by statements made by the CEO's of the world's leading companies and the world's foremost politicians and scholars who attended the Fortune Global Forum in Shanghai in September 1999. With almost no exceptions, Fortune Global Forum attendees expressed their willingness to recommend additional investment in China. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Haiti | When they did arrive, they arrested Convergence leader Gabriel Fortune. (references) |
Haiti | Police said they detained Fortune to protect him, but later said that someone had filed a complaint against him. (references) | |
Haiti | Fortune was released on June 4. On August 29, progovernment militants broke up a demonstration in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville. (references) | |
Economic History | India | More than 185 of the Fortune 500 companies outsource their software requirements from Indian software houses. (references) |
Australia | The Australian headquarters of the seven of the top twenty U.S. Fortune 500 companies are based in Melbourne. (references) | |
Malaysia | American MBAs are highly sought after by Malaysians, since the majority of the Fortune 500 companies are American. (references) | |
Political Economy | BRAZIL | Nearly all of the Fortune 500 companies are represented in Brazil. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | RESPONSIBILITY, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star. Alas, things ain't what we should see If Eve had let that apple be; And many a feller which had ought To set with monarchses of thought, Or play some rosy little game With battle-chaps on fields of fame, Is downed by his unlucky star And hollers: "Peanuts! -- here you are!" "The Sturdy Beggar" |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | Experiencing the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved in war, and it may in that event be the object of the adverse party to overset our Government, to break our Union, and demolish us as a nation. |
John Quincy Adams | 1825-1829 | This result has always been confidently expected, from the character of personal integrity and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish dominions has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Fortune" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 95.77% of the time. "Fortune" is used about 2,055 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 95.77% | 1,968 | 4,369 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.23% | 87 | 35,390 |
| Total | 100.00% | 2,055 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "fortune" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Fortune | Last name | 6,000 | 2,229 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| "Fortune" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "a fortune". | |||
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "fortune". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Baal-gad | N/A | Biblical | Idol of fortune or felicity |
| Fortune | Female | English | A fortune |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Fortune Limited | Philippines | Fortune Cement Corporation |
| Taiwan | Ever Fortune Industrial Co. Ltd. | United Kingdom | Fortune Oil Plc |
| USA | Fortune Brands Inc. | ||
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "fortune": a man of fortune ♦ a small fortune ♦ ball of fortune ♦ be the sport of fortune ♦ carve out a fortune ♦ chacun est l'artisan de sa fortune ♦ child of fortune ♦ come into a fortune ♦ dame fortune ♦ darling of fortune ♦ drink away one's fortune ♦ Fortune book ♦ fortune cookie ♦ fortune hunter ♦ fortune sheet ♦ fortune teller ♦ fortune telling ♦ fortune upon ♦ good fortune ♦ great fortune ♦ have good fortune ♦ ill fortune ♦ knight of fortune ♦ lose one's fortune ♦ loss of fortune ♦ lot fortune ♦ make a fortune ♦ make one's fortune ♦ marry a fortune ♦ small fortune ♦ soldier of fortune ♦ spoiled child of fortune ♦ stake one's fortune ♦ take smile of fortune ♦ tell a person his fortune ♦ tell fortune ♦ tell smb.'s fortune ♦ tempt fortune ♦ the reverse of fortune ♦ the sport of fortune ♦ the transmutation of fortune ♦ the wheel of fortune ♦ tricks of fortune ♦ try one's fortune ♦ wheel of Fortune ♦ win a fortune. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "fortune": fortune-hunter, fortune-hunters, fortune-seekers, fortune-seeking, fortune-teller, fortune-teller-once, fortune-tellers, fortune-telling. | |
Ending with "fortune": ill-fortune. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "fortune"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | lot (destiny, fate, ill fate, luck). (various references) | |
Albanian | fat (chance, circumstance, cup, destiny, dole, doom, fate, hap, happiness, hit, kismet, lot, lottery, luck, mercy, portion, predetermine, share, spouse, weird), pasuri (asset, fleshpot, independence, mammon, mean, moneybags, opulence, ownership, pelf, pregnancy, resource, riches, richness, wealth), e ardhme (fate, future, futurity, perspective, prospect, To-be, tomorrow), dora e fatit. (various references) | |
Arabic | نصيب (destiny, lot, luck, odds, portion, quota, share, slice, whack), حظ (cast, chance, fluke, luck, show), المصاير, ثروة (mammon, opulence, pelf, purse, resource, resources, riches, substance, treasure, wealth), بخت. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | състояние (capital, case, condition, fettle, fig, means, pile, plight, position, posture, repair, shape, state, substance, train, way), съдба (chance, destiny, dispensation, doom, fatality, fate, hap, kismet, line, lot, luck, portion, star, weird), успех (advancement, do, hit, progress, purpose, speed, success, up), щастие (blessedness, bliss, felicity, happiness, luck, rejoicing, speed, star), късмет (cast, chance, godsend, hap, hit, jam, kismet, luck, pudding-bag, score, stroke of luck), богатство (abundance, affluence, mammon, means, moneybags, opulence, pelf, pregnancy, purse, riches, richness, shekels, substance), предопределение (decree). (various references) | |
Chinese | 運 (fate, luck, to move, to transport, to user), 时运, 幸運 (fortunate, luck, lucky). (various references) | |
Czech | osud (destiny, doom, draw, fate, kismet, lot, predestination), náhoda (accident, chance, coincidence, contingent, fortuity, hap, hazard, random), jmìní (assets, estate), bohatství (amplitude, gold, great fortune, mammon, money bag, opulence, possessions, riches, richness, wealth), štìstí (cess, felicity, good luck, happiness, joy, luck, sunshine, utility). (various references) | |
Dutch | lot (destiny, fate, ill fate, luck), Fortuna, fortuin (destiny, fate, luck). (various references) | |
Esperanto | Fortuno, sorto (destiny, fate, luck). (various references) | |
Faeroese | lagna (destiny, fate, ill fate, luck). (various references) | |
Farsi | مقدرکردن (Destine, Ordain, Slate), مال (For, Lucre, Property, Wealth), طالع (Horoscope), خوش بختی , اتفاق افتادن (Befall, Chance, Comeabout, Give, Occur, Tide), ثروت (Gold, Mammon, Money, Possession, Treasure, Wealth, Worth), شانس (Chance, Fortuity, Luck, Odds), داراءی (Asset, Estate, Possession, Property, Purse, Thing, Wealth), بحث واقبال . (various references) | |
Finnish | osa (component, destiny, fate, lot, luck, part, piece, portion, proportion, rōle, role, share, volume), onni (happiness, luck, success), onnetar (Lady Luck). (various references) | |
French | sort, fortune. (various references) | |
Frisian | fertún. (various references) | |
German | Glück (auspiciousness, beatitudes, bliss, chance, felicity, fortunateness, good luck, happiness, luck, luckiness, mercy, prosperity), vermögen (ability, be able, be able to, be capable, capacity, faculty, mean, pile, power, property, resource, wealth), schicksal (destiny, doom, fate, fatefulness, karma, kismet, luck, misfortune, portion), geschick (aptness, cunning, deftness, destiny, expertise, fate, finesse, handicraft, handiness, knack, luck, nimbleness, skill, skillfulness, skills, swankiness). (various references) | |
Greek | ευτυχία (happiness, weal, wheal). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מזל (chance, destiny, fate, lot, luck, luckiness, planet), פורטונה, הון תועפות (mint of money), גד (luck, success). (various references) | |
Hungarian | vagyon (asset, bank-roll, estate, goods, opulence, pelf, possessions, property, riches, shekels, substance, title, wealth), véletlen (accidental, adventitious, casual, chance, coincidence, contingent, fortuitous, hap, haphazard, happenstance, hazard, incidental, luck, occasional, promiscuous, random, unwitting), végzet (chance, destiny, doom, fatality, fate, kismet, nemesis, predestination, weird), szerencse (chance, felicity, fluke, happiness, hit, it's a good job that, luck, mercy, piece of luck, scoop, stroke of good luck), sors (cast, chance, cup, destiny, fate, kismet, lot, nemesis, predestination, weird). (various references) | |
Indonesian | untung (fortunate, lucky, profit), rezeki (blessing (of God), livelihood, luck), peruntungan (luck), nasib (destiny, fate). (various references) | |
Italian | fortuna (chance, emergency, godsend, luck, luckiness, success), patrimonio (asset, assets, estate, heritage, holding, patrimony, possessions, property). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 幸 (happiness, wish), 吉凶 (sunshine and shadow). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | さち (happiness, wish), こうじ (affairs after one's death, alley, bait, construction work, curious, decoy, edict, future affairs, good deed, government business, higher-order-, lane, leaven, lure, malt, meta-, mould used to make sake, mouth and ear, public announcement, yeast), こううん (good luck, prosperity), こうず (cadastral map, composition, curious, good deed, likes and dislikes, map of a harbor), せいうん (blue sky, galaxy, high rank, nebula, prosperity, tendency, trend), ふくとく (happiness and prosperity), とみ (wealth), うんき (fate, the look of the sky), フォーチュン , しんだい (bed, couch, property), ざい (dose, drug, medicine, riches), ざいさん (assets, property), きっきょう (astonishment, be amazed, be frightened, be surprised, sunshine and shadow), しさん (assets, means, property, scattering, trial calculation), しざい (assets, capital punishment, material, private property, property, the death penalty), うん (luck). (various references) | |
Korean | 운 (Canal, luck, rhymed, rhyming). (various references) | |
Manx | speeideilys (prosperity, success, well-being), sonnys (affluence, felicity, good luck, luckiness, plentitude, satiety), fortan, faaishnys (augury, bodement, forecast, prediction), aigh vie (farewell, good luck). (various references) | |
Norwegian | formue, skjebne (destiny, fate, lot), lykke (felicity, happilyness, happiness, luck). (various references) | |
Papiamen | fortuna, destino (destiny, fate, luck). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ortunefay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fortuna (luck, money, moneybag, star, wealth). (various references) | |
Romanian | stare (class, condition, estate, humor, humour, keep, plight, posture, property, rank, remaining, repose, rest, situation, sort, standing, state, station, way, wealth), soartã (chance, destiny, dole, doom, fatality, fate, future, hap, kismet, line, lot, luck, portion, Rede, weird), se întâmpla (be up, become, befall, betide, chance, come, come about, come of, hap, happen, hit, occur, pass, transpire), noroc (a bit luck, a piece of luck, blessing, chance, cheerio, fluke, god speed, good luck, hap, happiness, hazard, hello, hi, lot, luck, luckiness, more power to you, piece of luck, prosperity, score, star, strike, success, your health), destin (chance, destiny, dole, doom, fatality, fate, hap, line, lot, luck), bun (affectionate, applicable, belongings, beneficial, benevolent, bonny, bright, canny, capital, clever, decent, domain, eminent, fair, favorable, favourable, fine, fit, fitting, fond, fortunate, genuine, good, goods, grand, grandfather, grandparent, happy, honest, humane, kind, kindly, nice, okay, pleasurable, proper, real, right, salutary, skilful, skillful, soft-hearted, splendid, suitable, true, upright, useful, virtuous, well, wholesome), bogãţie (abundance, ampleness, amplitude, bag, copiousness, luxury, money bag, opulence, plenty, profusion, prosperity, riches, richness, valuables, wealth), bine (advantage, allright, aright, blessing, boon, fine, gain, good, good looking, honorable, honourable, interest, okay, right, rightly, stately, that's settled, up to the mark, well, well then), ban (ban, bribe, coin, gag, mite, soap), şansã (cast, chance, liberty, luck, luckiness, opening, question), avere (all, assets, belongings, effect, estate, gold, goods, having, means, opulence, patrimony, possession, property, substance, wealth), agonisealã (acquisition, earnings, profit, riches, savings), întâmplare fericitã. (various references) | |
Russian | судьба (chance, destiny, fate, kismet, lot, luck, weird), состояние;удача;судьба, состояние (condition, environment, fettle, pile, plight, position, situation, state, status), фортуна, богатство (abundance, affluence, deep pocket, exuberance, exuberancy, fleshpot, luxuriance, mammon, money, moneybags, oof, opulence, pelf, pregnancy, riches, richness, wealth, wealthiness). (various references) | |
Scottish | fortan, crannchur (casting lots, lot). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | sudbina (destiny, doom, fate, kismet, lot, rede), sreća (blessedness, blessing, chance, felicity, good luck, hap, happiness, joy, luck), bogatstvo (affluence, moneybags, opulence, pelf, resource, riches, richness, weal, wealth). (various references) | |
Spanish | suerte (chance, destination, destiny, die, factories, fatalism, fate, happiness, kind, luck, luckiness, piece of luck, sort, try), fortuna (die, luck, mercy, pile). (various references) | |
Swedish | lycka (chance, happiness, luck, mercy, success), förmögenhet (capital, powers, substance). (various references) | |
Turkish | zenginlik (abundance, affluence, circumstance, circumstances, opulence, prosperity, riches, richness, substance, substantiality, wealth), uğur (auspiciousness, good luck, mascot), tâlih (auspiciousness, chance, fate, karma, luck), servet (abundance, affluence, assets, effects, gold, havings, means, pile, possessions, property, riches, shekels, substance, treasure, wealth), kader (destiny, dispensation, doom, fatal, fatality, fate, foreordination, karma, lot, Moira, predestination, Providence), kısmet (chance, destiny, fatality, fate, foreordination, inning, innings, kismet, lot, Moira, portion, predestination, shot), baht (chance, hap, happiness, luck, Moira), şans (auspiciousness, chance, fluke, flukey, fluky, good luck, hap, hazard, hit, inning, innings, luck, odds, opportunity, shot, show, star, turnup), alinyazisi (destiny, fate, luck). (various references) | |
Turkmen | bije (fate, lot). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | щастя (chance, felicity, happiness, luck), фортуна (wheel), талан (allotment, bonzer, luck), багатство (affluence, bag, capital, mammon, means, moneybag, oof, opulence, pocket, profusion, purse, riches, richness, the dollars, thrift, wad, weal, wealth), доля (allotment, chance, cup, destiny, doom, fatality, fate, karma, lot, nemesis, portion, predestination). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vận may (luckiness), vận mệnh sự giàu có, vận (luck), thần tài, sự thịnh vượng (bonanza, prosperity), sự may mắn thần vận mệnh, của cải (effect, mean, meant, money, property, shekel, treasure). (various references) | |
Welsh | ffortun, ffortiwn, ffawd (fate), cynhysgaeth (dower, portion). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | fortuna. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Romans Chapter 1, Verse 10 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Pantote epi twn proseucwn mou deomenoV eipwV hdh pote euodwqhsomai en tw qelhmati tou qeou elqein proV umaV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Semper in orationibus meis obsecrans si quo modo tandem aliquando prosperum iter habeam in voluntate Dei veniendi ad vos |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | On minum gebedum on eallum tidum; and ic me gebidde þæt nu æt ende þurh God se weg mæg beon open þæt ic be eow neosan mæg. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | That with outen ceessyng Y make mynde of you euere in my preieris, and biseche, if in ony maner sum tyme Y haue a spedi weie in the wille of God to come to you. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Besechinge that at one tyme or another a prosperous iorney (by ye will of god) myght fortune me to come vnto you. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Making request (if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey by the will of God) to come to you. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And that I am ever making prayers that God will give me a good journey to you. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Romans Chapter 1, Verse 10 |
| Cebuano | sa pagpangamuyo nga pinaagi sa kabubut-on sa Dios, sa bisan unsang higayona, sa katapusan mahinayon na unta ako sa pag-anha diha kaninyo. |
| Croatian | u svojim molitvama neprekidno spominjem i uvijek molim ne bi li mi se veæ jednom s voljom Božjom nekako posreæilo doæi k vama. |
| Danish | idet jeg bestandig i mine Bønner beder om, at jeg dog endelig engang måtte få Lykke til Ved Guds Villie at komme til eder. |
| Dutch | Allen tijd in mijn gebeden biddende, of mogelijk mij nog te eniger tijd goede gelegenheid gegeven wierd, door den wil van God, om tot ulieden te komen. |
| Finnish | aina rukouksissani anoen, että minä jo vihdoinkin, jos Jumala tahtoo, pääsisin tulemaan teidän tykönne. |
| French | demandant continuellement dans mes prières d`avoir enfin, par sa volonté, le bonheur d`aller vers vous. |
| German | und allezeit in meinem Gebet flehe, ob sich's einmal zutragen wollte, daß ich zu euch käme durch Gottes Willen. |
| Haitian Creole | se san rete m'ap lapriyè pou nou; m'ap mande Bondye pou l' kite mwen vin vizite nou yon lè konsa, si se volonte li. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Saya mohon dengan sangat kepada Allah, semoga Ia mau mengizinkan saya sekarang mengunjungi kalian. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | senantiasa di dalam doaku, memohonkan dengan jalan bagaimanapun jikalau ada bahagiaku, dengan kehendak Allah, datang berjumpa dengan kamu. |
| Italian | chiedendo sempre nelle mie preghiere che per volontà di Dio mi si apra una strada per venire fino a voi. |
| Maori | E inoi ana me kore e pai te Atua kia whakatikaia taku haere atu ki a koutou. |
| Norwegian | idet jeg alltid i mine bønner beder om at jeg dog endelig engang ved Guds vilje må få lykke til å komme til eder. |
| Portuguese | pedindo sempre em minhas orações que, afinal, pela vontade de Deus, se me ofereça boa ocasião para ir ter convosco. |
| Rumanian | wi cer totdeauna ca, prin voia lui Dumnezeu, sq am knsfkrwit fericirea sq vin la voi. |
| Shuar | Ashí tsawant ni wakerutakuinkia iitjarum tusan Yúsan seajai. |
| Spanish | rogando que, si de alguna manera por la voluntad de Dios, por fin yo sea bien encaminado para ir a vosotros. |
| Swahili | daima katika sala zangu. Namwomba Mungu akipenda, anipatie nafasi nzuri ya kuja kwenu sasa. |
| Swedish | och i mina böner alltid beder att jag dock nu omsider må få ett gynnsamt tillfälle att komma till eder, om Gud så vill. |
| Uma | Kuposampayai oa' -koi ompi' pai' kuperapi' mpu'u hi Alata'ala bona ane da ma'aa-ala napalogai-a tilou mpencuai' -koi, ane napokono Alata'ala. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "fortune": fortuned, fortunes, fortuneteller, fortunetellers, fortunetelling, fortunetellings. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "fortune": misfortune. (additional references) | |
Words containing "fortune": misfortunes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Fortune" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fartynge, fioriture, Forbundet, fortana, forteen, Fortini, Fortino, Fortney, Fortuin, fortuine, fortun, fortunam, fortunei, fortuny, forture, forturne, foryune, Fotini, fourtane, Furzton, Kortun, Kortunov, tortune. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "fortune" (pronounced fô"rkhun or fô"rkhuwn) |
| 6 | f ô" r kh u n | misfortune. |
| 3 | -kh u n | abstention, bastion, circumvention, combustion, congestion, contravention, digestion, exhaustion, inattention, indigestion, ingestion, intention, intervention, kitchen, luncheon, Nonintervention, question, suggestion, truncheon, urchin. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-f-n-o-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: tenour. | |
-2 letters: fetor, forte, fount, front, futon, noter, often, ofter, outer, outre, rouen, route, tenor, toner, trone, tuner. | |
-3 letters: euro, fern, font, fore, fort, four, fret, froe, note, reft, rent, rote, roue, rout, rune, runt, tern, tofu, tone, tore, torn, tour, tref, true, tune, turf, turn, unto. | |
-4 letters: eft, eon, ern, fen, fer, fet. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-f-n-o-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: confuter, fortuned, fortunes, fourteen. | |
+2 letters: confiture, confuters, fortunate, fourteens, foxhunter, profluent, underfoot. | |
+3 letters: confitures, fluorinate, fourteener, fourteenth, foxhunters, housefront, misfortune, outfrowned, refutation, undercroft, unfavorite, unforested, uniformest. | |
+4 letters: cofeaturing, counterfeit, counterfire, counterflow, counterfoil, countrified, countryfied, fluorescent, fluorinated, fluorinates, fortunately, fourteeners, fourteenths, frontrunner, housefronts, interfusion, misfortunes, perfunctory, profoundest, refutations, typefounder, undercrofts, unfortified, unfortunate. | |
+5 letters: amentiferous, counterfeits, counterfired, counterfires, counterflows, counterfoils, counterforce, counteroffer, fluorescents, frontrunners, interfusions, mournfullest, overstuffing, perfusionist, profundities, putrefaction, refoundation, reoutfitting, sportfulness, titaniferous, typefounders, unformulated, unfortunates, uniformities, unprofitable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Names: Frequency 15. Names: Derived from 16. Names: Company Usage | 17. Expressions 18. Expressions: Internet 19. Translations: Modern 20. Translations: Ancient | 21. Bible Trace 22. Derivations 23. Rhymes 24. Anagrams | 25. Bibliography |
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