"feelings and expressions of joy, exultation, or gladness," late 14c., rejoising, verbal noun from rejoice (v.). Related: Rejoicingly. Rejoicement (1560s) seems not to have caught on.
Entries linking to rejoicing
rejoice v.
c. 1300, rejoisen, "to own (goods, property), possess, enjoy the possession of, have the fruition of," from Old French rejoiss-, present participle stem of rejoir, resjoir "gladden, rejoice," from re-, which here is of obscure signification, perhaps an intensive (see re-), + joir "be glad," from Latin gaudere "rejoice" (see joy).
From mid-14c. in a transitive sense of "make joyful, gladden." Intransitive meaning "be full of joy" is recorded from late 14c. Middle English also used simple verb joy "to feel gladness; experience joy in a high degree" (mid-13c.) and rejoy (early 14c.). Also in 15c.-16c. "to have (someone) as husband or wife, to have for oneself and enjoy." To rejoice in "be glad about, delight in" is from late 14c. Related: Rejoiced; rejoicing.