Joie de vivre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joie de vivre (from the French joie, "joy"; de, "of"; vivre, "to live, living"; "the joy of living") is a term used to express a cheerful enjoyment of life. Joie de vivre, as one scholar has written, "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Robert's Dictionnaire says joie is sentiment exaltant ressenti par toute la conscience, that is, involves one's whole being."[1]
(In English common usage, the phrase is sometimes mutated to "joie de vie", a corruption of the traditional expression. This would translate to "joy of life" or "zest for life", rather than the more affirmative "joy of living".)
