Wheel of Fortune

See also: wheel of fortune and wheel of Fortune

English

WOTD – 17 December 2024

Etymology

From wheel +‎ of +‎ Fortune (“the Roman goddess Fortuna”), a calque of Latin rota Fortūnae (literally “Fortuna’s wheel”), from rota (“wheel”) + Fortūnae (the genitive dative singular of Fortūna (“the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck”)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌwiːl‿əv ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/, (wine–whine merger) /ˌʍiːl-/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌwil‿əv ˈfoɹt͡ʃun/, /-t͡ʃən/, (wine–whine merger) /ˌʍil-/
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t͡ʃuːn, -ɔː(ɹ)tʃən
  • Hyphenation: Wheel of For‧tune

Proper noun

Wheel of Fortune

  2. (mythology, philosophy) The mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck, to determine people's fortunes which were thus unpredictable.
    Synonyms: rota Fortunae, wheel, (archaic, rare) Wheel of Providence
    • [c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii, signature [A8], verso:
      I hold the Fates bound faſt in yron chaines, / And with my hand turne Fortunes wheel about, / And ſooner ſhall the Sun fall from his Spheare, / Than Tamburlaine be ſlaine or ouercome.]
    • 1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter VII. From Lien Chi Altangi, to Fum Hoam, First President of the Ceremonial Academy at Pekin, in China.”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow, […]; J. Leake and W. Frederick, […]; B. Collins, […]; and A. M. Smart and Co. […], published 1762, →OCLC, page 22:
      The vvheel of fortune turns inceſſantly round, and vvho can ſay vvithin himſelf I ſhall to day be uppermoſt.
    • 1895, Marie Corelli, chapter I, in The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 4:
      I was young enough not to part with hope too easily;—the vague idea I had that my turn would come,—that the ever-circling wheel of Fortune would perchance lift me up some day as it now crushed me down, kept me just wearily capable of continuing existence,—though it was merely a continuance and no more.
    • 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 2, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, section I, page 27:
      As a medievalist Ignatius believed in the rota Fortunae, or wheel of fortune, a central concept in De Consolatione Philosophiae, the philosophical work which had laid foundation for medieval thought. […] Was his wheel rapidly spinning downward?
  3. (by extension)
    1. (gambling) Synonym of Big Six wheel (“a game of chance consisting of a vertically mounted wheel divided into equal marked sectors; the winning sector is the one indicated by a pointer when the wheel stops turning”).
    3. (tarot) A tarot card with an image of Fortuna's wheel (sense 1), generally the tenth of 22 trumps of the major arcana in most tarot decks.

Usage notes

  • Chiefly preceded by a determiner, especially the.

Alternative forms

Derived terms

  • wheel of fortune (“gambling or lottery device consisting of a wheel which is spun horizontally”)

Translations

Further reading

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