Eunoia

In rhetoric, eunoia is the goodwill a speaker cultivates between himself and his audience, a condition of receptivity. In book eight of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the term to refer to the kind and benevolent feelings of goodwill a spouse has which form the basis for the ethical foundation of human life.Cicero translates eunoia with the Latin word benevolentia.

It is also a rarely used medical term referring to a state of normal mental health.Eunoia is the shortest English word containing all five main vowel graphemes. It comes from the Greek word εὔνοια, meaning "well mind".

In popular culture

Eunoia (book)

Eunoia is an anthology of univocalics by Canadian poet Christian Bök. Each chapter is written using words limited to a single vowel, producing sentences like: "Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal". The author believes "his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language." The work was inspired by the Oulipo group, which seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques.

The book was published in Canada in 2001 by Coach House Books; sold 20,000 copies; and won the 2002 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.Canongate Books published a British edition in 2008. The book sold well in the United Kingdom, making The Times list of the year's top 10 books and becoming the top-selling book of poetry in Britain.

The title eunoia, which literally means good thinking, is a medical term which refers to the state of normal mental health, and is also the shortest word in the English which contains all five vowels. The cover features a chromatic representation of Arthur Rimbaud's sonnet "Voyelles" (Vowels) in which each vowel is assigned a particular colour and consonants appear grey.