Utopia: The Word for "No Place" That Means "Ideal Place"

The term you're looking for is utopia—coined by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 Latin work De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia ("Of the Best State of a Republic and of the New Island Utopia").

Etymology: A Pun

• Ou-topos (οὐ τόπος) = "no place"
• Eu-topos (εὖ τόπος) = "good place"
• More fused them: Utopia = a good place that doesn't exist.

The Original Vision

More's Utopia is a fictional island with:

• Communal property, no money
• Religious tolerance, elected officials
• Six-hour workdays, free healthcare, public dining
• Slavery (for criminals and prisoners of war)—a blind spot

Legacy

"Utopia" spawned a genre: utopian literature (Bellamy's Looking Backward, Morris's News from Nowhere) and its shadow, dystopia (Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World). In everyday use, it means any idealized, unattainable society.

More, a devout Catholic later executed by Henry VIII, likely intended irony: the perfect society is nowhere—because human nature prevents it.