# welfare

Pronunciation: say "WEL-fair" US /ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/, UK /ˈwɛlˌfɛə/

## Noun

1. The health, safety, happiness, prosperity, and general well-being of a person or group.
   - Simple: How healthy, safe, and happy a person or group is.
   - _The committee's main concern was the welfare of the local community._
   - _Her parents always put her welfare above their own comfort._
2. Government financial assistance provided to individuals or families with low income or insufficient resources. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: Money or help the government gives to people who do not have enough to live on.
   - _The state cut welfare to thousands of families during the budget crisis._
   - _He grew up on welfare in a small Midwestern town._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To provide with welfare or aid.

## Origin

From Middle English welefare, probably from the Old English phrase wel faran ("to fare well, get along successfully, prosper"), and equivalent to well + fare. It is cognate with Middle Dutch welvare, Middle Low German wolvare, and Old Norse velferð (source of Swedish välfärd). The sense of social concern for people's well-being is first recorded in 1904, and the sense of an organized effort to support members of a group from 1918.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/welfare (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).