福|ふくfuku[2]odaka (tail-high)

1. noungood fortune; happiness; blessing; good luck
   災わざわいを転てんじて福ふくとしなさい。↗

   Turn your misfortune to account.

• Synonym幸せしあわせNeutralThe everyday word for happiness; the most common choice in daily speech. 「福」 leans folkloric, suggesting fortune or blessings, as in 「福の神」 and 「笑う門には福来る」.
• Synonym幸運こううんNeutralGood luck, with the nuance of chance. 「福」 instead stresses fortune and auspiciousness in a folkloric sense.
• Synonym幸さちWrittenA written word for luck and fortune with an archaic, elegant flavor. 「福」 is more common in folk contexts.
• Synonym幸福こうふくNeutralHappiness in life, leaning toward written style. 「福」 centers on fortune and good luck rather than happiness itself.
• Synonym幸いさいわいNeutralLuck, or 'fortunately' when things turn out well. 「福」 stays with the folkloric sense of fortune.
• Synonym福徳ふくとくWrittenA written word for fortune and virtue, with a Buddhist tinge. 「福」 is the plain folkloric term for good fortune.
• Synonym多幸たこうWrittenA written word for abundant good fortune, used mostly in well-wishes such as 「ご多幸を祈る」.
• Synonym僥倖ぎょうこうWrittenAn unexpected stroke of luck, a windfall. 「福」 refers to auspicious fortune more broadly.
• Synonym慶福けいふくWrittenA written word for festive, celebratory fortune, used in congratulatory phrases. 「福」 is the more everyday term.
• Synonym清福せいふくWrittenA written word for the quiet fortune of a leisurely life, with a refined flavor. 「福」 covers fortune in general.
• Synonym福運ふくうんWrittenFortune and good luck combined. 「福」 is shorter and far more common.
• Synonym吉きちNeutralGood luck, above all as an omikuji result like 「大吉」. 「福」 centers on fortune rather than divination luck.
• Related大福だいふくNeutralGreat fortune, but in everyday use mostly the name of the bean-jam rice cake 「大福」.
• RelatedラッキーCasualA colloquial loanword for feeling lucky, very common in speech. 「福」 has a folkloric flavor instead.
• Related果報かほうWrittenGood fortune as a reward for past deeds, with a Buddhist tinge, as in the proverb 「果報は寝て待て」.
• Related盛運せいうんWrittenA written word for flourishing luck; rare. Say 「福」 or 「幸運」 instead.
• Related昌運しょううんWrittenA written word for prosperous fortune; rare. Say 「福」 or 「幸運」 instead.
• Related福禄ふくろくWrittenFortune and prosperity together; also the god Fukurokuju. 「福」 is the broader, more general word.
• Antonym災いわざわいNeutralDisaster or calamity, the opposite of 「福」 as good fortune, as in 「禍福」.
• Antonym不幸ふこうNeutralUnhappiness or misfortune, the opposite of the good fortune 「福」 brings.
• Antonym禍まがNeutralWritten 「禍」, the same word as 「災い」 above; it pairs with 「福」, as in 「禍を転じて福となす」.

Use 「福」 for folkloric fortune and blessings, as in 「福袋」 and 「福の神」. For happiness say 「幸せ」 or 「幸福」; for good luck say 「幸運」; in casual speech, 「ラッキー」. The other written compounds (福徳, 多幸, 僥倖, etc.) are rare or confined to formal, Buddhist, or greeting contexts, and 「災い」 is the opposite—disaster.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. （フク）さいわいな事こと。しあわせ。