In rhetoric, eunoia (Ancient Greek: εὔνοιᾰ, romanized: eúnoia, lit. 'well mind; beautiful thinking')[1] is the good will that speakers cultivate between themselves and their audiences, a condition of receptivity.[2] In Book VIII of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the term to refer to the kind and benevolent feelings of good will a spouse has which form the basis for the ethical foundation of human life.[3] Cicero translates εὔνοιᾰ with the Latin word benevolentia.[4]
It is also a rarely used medical term referring to a state of normal mental health.[5] Eunoia is the shortest English word containing all five main vowel graphemes.[1]
In popular culture
- Eunoia 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. Christian Bök was a consultant on that series and helped develop the language.
- The debut album of math rock band Invalids.[6]
- In December 2015, the Ministry of Education in Singapore unveiled the name of a new junior College set to open in 2017, Eunoia Junior College. The unfamiliar name generated significant buzz in the Singapore community when it was first announced,[7] including memes referencing Singlish homophones.[8]
- Eunoia Technologies is the name of the firm Christopher Wylie founded after leaving Cambridge Analytica
- In classical music, Eunoia is a piano composition by Juan María Solare in the key of C Major (2021)
- In 2023, South Korean group Billlie released the album The Billage of Perception: Chapter Three featuring the lead single "Eunoia" [9][unreliable source?]
See also
- Iouea, a similarly short word with all the vowels.
References
External links
The dictionary definition of eunoia at Wiktionary
