Etymograph

English

eudaemonic

Eudaemonic comes from Ancient Greek εὐδαιμονία ‘happiness’, from εὐδαίμων ‘fortunate, happy’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to share, to divide’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-1‘to share, to divide’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδαίομαι1daíomai‘to divide’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδαίμων2‘god, destiny’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαίμων3eudaímōn‘fortunate, happy’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαιμονία3eudaimonía‘happiness’
  6. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαιμονικός3eudaimonikós
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1993eudaemonic3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek δαίμων
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek εὐδαίμων
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English eudaemonic
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, Janina Frentzel-Zagórska: “During the 1960s and 1970s, many communist leaderships sought…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek δαίμων‘to share, to divide’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδαίομαιWiktionary, Ancient Greek δαίμωνdaíomai‘to divide’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδαίμωνWiktionary, Ancient Greek εὐδαίμων‘god, destiny’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαίμωνWiktionary, English eudaemoniceudaímōn‘fortunate, happy’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαιμονίαWiktionary, English eudaemoniceudaimonía‘happiness’
  6. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεὐδαιμονικόςWiktionary, English eudaemoniceudaimonikós
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1993eudaemonicWiktionary, English eudaemonic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, Janina Frentzel-Zagórska: “During the 1960s and 1970s, many communist leaderships sought…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to share, to divide’

time, till, tide, til, tease, tass, 21 more

through Ancient Greek δαίομαι ‘to divide’

demonic, demonize, 13 more

through Ancient Greek δαίμων ‘god, destiny’

demon, daemon, daimon, 15 more

Today it means

adj Of or pertaining to a eudaemon.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “eudaemonic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek δαίμων, Ancient Greek εὐδαίμων. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- / eudaemonic

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