Eunoia

Look up eunoia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For the book by Canadian poet Christian Bök, see Eunoia (book).

Eunoia is the shortest English word containing all five main vowel graphemes. It comes from the Greek word εύνοια which means well mind or beautiful thinking.^[1]

It is a rarely used medical term referring to a state of normal mental health.^[2]

In book eight of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the term (in Greek) to refer to the kind and benevolent feelings of goodwill a spouse has which form the basis for the ethical foundation of human life.^[3]

In Popular Culture

• Eunoia (book) is a work by poet Christian Bök consisting of five chapters, each one using only one vowel.
• In the science-fiction television series Earth: Final Conflict, Eunoia is the name of the native language of the Taelon race. Bök was a consultant on that series and helped develop the language.

See also

• English words with unusual properties
• Iouea, a similarly short word with all the vowels.

References

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