success

See also: Success

English

Alternative forms

• successe (archaic)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin successus, from succēdō (“succeed”), from sub- (“next to”) + cēdō (“go, move”). Partly displaced native Old English spēd, whence Modern English speed.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /səkˈsɛs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Noun

success (countable and uncountable, plural successes)

1. The achievement of one's aim or goal. [from 16th c.]

   Antonym: failure

   His third attempt to pass the entrance exam was a success.

   a glowing success

2. (business) Financial profitability.

   Don't let success go to your head.

3. One who, or that which, achieves assumed goals.

   Scholastically, he was a success.

   The new range of toys has been a resounding success.

4. The fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame.

   She is country music's most recent success.

5. (obsolete) Something which happens as a consequence; the outcome or result. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

     I suppose them as at the beginning of no meane endeavour, not a little alter'd and mov'd inwardly in their mindes: Some with doubt of what will be the successe, others with fear of what will be the censure; some with hope, others with confidence of what they have to speake.

Derived terms

Terms derived from success

• critical success factor
• customer success
• don't mess with success
• nothing succeeds like success
• roaring success
• successful
• successfully
• successism
• success depends on your backbone, not your wishbone
• success has many fathers, failure is an orphan
• success metric
• success story
• sweet smell of success
• victim of one's own success

Translations

achievement of one's aim or goal

• Afrikaans: sukses (af)
• Albanian: sukses (sq) m
• Arabic: نَجَاح m (najāḥ)
• Armenian: հաջողություն (hy) (haǰoġutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: uğur (az), müvəffəqiyyət
• Bashkir: уңыш (uñış)
• Basque: arrakasta
• Belarusian: по́спех m (póspjex)
• Bengali: কামিয়াবি (bn) (kamiẏabi), সফলতা (śôphôlôta), সাফল্য (bn) (śaphôllô)
• Bulgarian: успе́х (bg) (uspéh)
• Burmese: ဇေယျ (my) (jeyya.), အောင်ပန်း (my) (aungpan:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: у́спіх (úspix)
• Catalan: succés (ca) m, èxit (ca) m
• Chechen: аьтто (ätto)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 成功 (sing⁴ gung¹)

  Dungan: чынгун (čɨngun)

  Eastern Min: 成功 (sìng-gŭng)

  Hakka: 成功 (sṳ̀n-kûng)

  Hokkien: 成功 (zh-min-nan) (sêng-kong)

  Mandarin: 成功 (zh) (chénggōng)

  Wu: 成功 (⁶zen-kon)

• Czech: úspěch (cs) m, zdar (cs) m
• Danish: succes (da) c
• Dutch: succes (nl) n, welgang m, goed gevolg n
• Estonian: edu
• Faroese: gott úrslit n
• Finnish: menestys (fi), onnistuminen (fi)
• French: succès (fr) m
• Galician: éxito m
• Georgian: წარმატება (c̣armaṭeba)
• German: Erfolg (de) m
• Greek: επιτυχία (el) f (epitychía)

  Ancient: εὐπραγία f (eupragía)

• Haitian Creole: siksè
• Hebrew: הַצלָחָה (he) f (hatslakhá)
• Hindi: सफलता (hi) f (saphaltā), कामयाबी f (kāmyābī), साफल्य (hi) m (sāphalya)
• Hungarian: eredmény (hu), kimenetel (hu), siker (hu)
• Icelandic: árangur (is) m
• Indonesian: keberhasilan (id), sukses (id)
• Ingush: аьттув (ättuv)
• Interlingua: successo
• Irish: áitheas m
• Italian: successo (it) m
• Japanese: 成功 (ja) (せいこう, seikō)
• Kannada: ಯಶಸ್ಸು (kn) (yaśassu)
• Kazakh: жетістік (jetıstık), табыс (tabys)
• Khmer: ជោគជ័យ (km) (cook cɨy)
• Korean: 성공(成功) (ko) (seonggong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەرکەوتن (serkewtin)

  Northern Kurdish: qazanc (ku)

• Kyrgyz: ийгилик (ky) (iygilik), жетишкендик (ky) (jetişkendik)
• Ladino: reushita, reushidad, sukseso
• Lao: ຄວາມສຳເລັດ (khuām sam let), ຜົນສຳເລັດ (phon sam let)
• Latin: successus m, fructus (la)
• Latvian: veiksme f
• Lithuanian: sėkmė f
• Luxembourgish: Erfolleg m, Succès m
• Macedonian: успех m (uspeh)
• Maori: angitu
• Marathi: यश (yaś)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: амжилт (mn) (amžilt)

  Mongolian: ᠠᠮᠵᠢᠯᠲᠠ (amǰilta)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: suksess (no) m

  Nynorsk: suksess m

• Old English: spēd f
• Pashto: کامراني f (kāmrāni)
• Persian:

  Dari: مُوَفَّقِیَت (fa) (muwaffaqiyat)

  Iranian Persian: مُوَفَّقِیَت (fa) (movaffağiyat), سوکْسِه (sukse) (rare), کامْیابی (fa)

• Polish: powodzenie (pl) n, sukces (pl) m
• Portuguese: sucesso (pt) m, êxito (pt) m
• Romanian: succes (ro) n
• Russian: успе́х (ru) m (uspéx), уда́ча (ru) f (udáča)
• Sanskrit: स्वस्ति (sa) n (svasti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̀спех m, у̀спјех m

  Roman: ùspeh (sh) m, ùspjeh (sh) m

• Slovak: úspech m
• Slovene: uspeh (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wuspěch m

• Spanish: éxito (es) m, acierto (es) m
• Swahili: mafanikio class ma
• Swedish: framgång (sv) c, succé (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagumpay (tl)
• Tajik: муваффақият (muvaffaqiyat)
• Tamil: வெற்றி (ta) (veṟṟi)
• Tatar: уңыш (tt) (uñış)
• Telugu: లక్ష్యాన్ని చేరుట (lakṣyānni cēruṭa)
• Thai: ความสำเร็จ (th) (kwaam-sǎm-rèt), ผลสำเร็จ (pǒn-sǎm-rèt)
• Turkish: başarı (tr), sükse (tr)
• Turkmen: üstünlik
• Ukrainian: у́спіх m (úspix)
• Urdu: کامْیابی f (kāmyābī), سَپَھلْتا m (saphaltā)
• Uyghur: ئۇتۇق (utuq), مۇۋەپپەقىيەت (muweppeqiyet)
• Uzbek: muvaffaqiyat (uz), yutuq (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự thành công (vi), thành công (vi) (成功)
• Volapük: plöp (vo)
• Welsh: llwyddiant (cy) m
• Yiddish: הצלחה f (hatslokhe)

(business) financial profitability

• Czech: výnosnost f
• Finnish: menestys (fi), voitollisuus
• Georgian: წარმატება (c̣armaṭeba), მიღწევა (miɣc̣eva), შედეგიანობა (šedegianoba)
• Greek: επιτυχία (el) f (epitychía)
• Hungarian: siker (hu)
• Interlingua: successo
• Polish: sukces (pl) m
• Portuguese: sucesso (pt) m
• Romanian: succes (ro) n
• Russian: успе́х (ru) m (uspéx), благосостоя́ние (ru) n (blagosostojánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: piseach m
• Telugu: ఆర్ధిక స్తొమత (ārdhika stomata)
• Turkish: başarı (tr), sükse (tr)

person who achieves his or her goals

• Finnish: menestyjä (fi), onnistuja
• Greek: επιτυχία (el) f (epitychía)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەرکەوتو (serkewtu)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: suksess (no) m

  Nynorsk: suksess m

• Portuguese: sucesso (pt) m
• Telugu: సాధకుడు లేక సాధకురాలు (sādhakuḍu lēka sādhakurālu)
• Turkish: başarılı (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} सफ़लता (safaltā)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} సఫలము (te) (saphalamu)

Further reading

• “success”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “success”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.