noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/fɪˈlæn.θɹə.pi/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Canada, General-American:/fəˈlæn.θɹə.pi/
Texas:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australian:/fɪˈlæn.θɹə.pi/
New-Zealand:/fəˈlɛn.θɹə.pi/
CMU ARPABET:F IH0 L AE1 N TH R AH0 P IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of humankind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Charitable giving, charity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
As public funding is reduced, we depend increasingly on private philanthropy.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A philanthropic act.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
His tombstone lists his various philanthropies.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A charitable foundation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
the Rockefeller philanthropies
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
voluntary promotion of human welfare
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: philanthropic gift
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: aid, economic aid, financial aid
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin philanthrōpia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek φιλανθρωπία (philanthrōpía). By surface analysis, phil- + -anthropy.
Across languages
Translations
75 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Armenian:
բարեգործություն
(baregorcutʻyun)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Armenian:
մարդասիրություն
(mardasirutʻyun)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Asturian:
filantropía
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Basque:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Bulgarian:
човеколюбие
(čovekoljubie)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Bulgarian:
филантропия
(filantropija)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Catalan:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Chinese Mandarin:
博愛精神 /博爱精神
(bó'ài jīngshén)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Czech:
filantropie
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Danish:
filantropi
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Dutch:
filantropie
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Esperanto:
filantropio
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Estonian:
filantroopia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Finnish:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Finnish:
ihmisystävällisyys
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
French:
philanthropie
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
West-Frisian:
filantropy
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Galician:
filantropía
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Georgian:
ფილანთროპი
(pilantroṗi)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
German:
Philantropie
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
German:
Menschenliebe
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
German:
Nächstenliebe
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Greek:
φιλανθρωπία
(filanthropía)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Ancient Greek:
φιλανθρωπία
(philanthrōpía)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Hebrew:
נַדְבָנוּת
(nadvanút)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Hindi:
लोकोपकार
(lokopkār)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Indonesian:
filantropi
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Irish:
daonnachtúlacht
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Italian:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Japanese:
人間好き
(ningen zuki)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Japanese:
慈善活動
(jizen katsudō)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Japanese:
博愛主義
(hakuai shugi)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Kashubian:
filantropiô
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Kazakh:
филантропия
(filantropiä)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Khmer:
ស្នេហាមនុស្សជាតិ
(snaehaa mɔnuh ciət)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Latin:
phĭlanthrōpĭa
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Latvian:
labdarība
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Latvian:
filantropija
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Lithuanian:
labdarys
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Lithuanian:
filantropas
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Macedonian:
филантропија
(filantropija)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Manx:
miallys
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Mingrelian:
ფილანთროპი
(pilantroṗi)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Norwegian Bokmål:
filantropi
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Norwegian Nynorsk:
filantropi
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Occitan:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Polish:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Portuguese:
filantropia
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Punjabi:
ਲੋਕ ਭਲਾਈ
(lok bhalāī)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Romanian:
filantropie
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Russian:
филантро́пия
(filantrópija)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Serbo-Croatian:
филантро̀пија
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Serbo-Croatian:
filantròpija f čovekoljublje
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Serbo-Croatian:
čovekoljubivost
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Slovak:
dobročinnosť
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Slovene:
filantropíja
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Slovene:
človekoljubje
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Spanish:
filantropía
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Swedish:
filantropi
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Tagalog:
pagkakawang-gawa
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Telugu:
దాతృత్వం
(dātr̥tvaṁ)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Turkish:
hayırseverlik
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Turkish:
insanseverlik
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Turkish:
yardımseverlik
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Ukrainian:
філантропі́я
(filantropíja)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Uzbek:
filantropiya
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Volapük:
menilöf
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Welsh:
dyngarwch
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Yiddish:
פֿילאַנטראָפּיע
(filantropye)
— benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind
Chinese Mandarin:
慈善行為 /慈善行为
(císhàn xíngwéi)
— philanthropic act