Eunoia- Daily Word №2
Euphoria? Eureka? Not quite……
Today’s word is eunoia, which means to goodwill from Old English. This word looks so much like euphoria I had to glance a second time. Did you know that this word is the shortest English word containing all five vowels? Sweet!
Looking Deeper
eunoia belongs to a triad of words used to explain the term ‘ethos’, or ethics. Aristotle describes the term as comprising of phronesis(wisdom), arete(virtue) and eunoia(good will).
Nowadays however, eunoia can simply refer to a beautiful mind, or tranquil thoughts.
Using ‘eunoia’ in a Sentence
We can use eunoia to replace more common phrases such as ‘calm mind’ or ‘well-mindedness’, for example:
He had the compassion of the sea and his eunoia outshone even the dazzling stars.
At the end of the day, this word is still a minority. It appears occasionally on psychology books, but that’s it. It’s time to bring this beauty back to it’s glory. Hey, Aristotle agrees! Maybe doing so will give us all a small patch of eunoia.
I know I might not be much, but I hope to bring these words back to our use again. By sharing one word a day, maybe we still have a shot at saving them.
