英和和英

語源

From 中期英語 welefare, probably from the 古期英語 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.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈwɛlˌfɛə/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/

名詞

welfare (usually uncountable, plural welfares)

1. (uncountable) Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

2. (uncountable, chiefly US, informal) Shortened form of "welfare spending", "welfare payments", or "welfare assistance".

   Synonyms: (UK) welfare assistance, income support, public assistance, social security

   • 2026 February 25, Arno Rosenfeld, “After Minneapolis, a YouTuber comes for Jewish ‘welfare queens’”, in The Forward‎, archived from the original on 27 February 2026:

     Oliveira seems to suggest that the Jews of Kiryas Joel are somehow gaming the welfare system to fund their lifestyles, while simultaneously acknowledging the high poverty rates in the town that qualify residents for programs like Medicaid.

派生語

動詞

welfare (third-person singular simple present welfares, present participle welfaring, simple past and past participle welfared)

1. (transitive) To provide with welfare or aid.

   welfaring the poor

参考

参照

Further reading

• “welfare”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Raymond Williams (1983), “Welfare”, in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, revised American edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 332.