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Origin and history of hap

hap(n.)

c. 1200, "chance, a person's luck, fortune, fate;" also "unforeseen occurrence," from Old Norse happ "chance, good luck," from Proto-Germanic *hap- (source of Old English gehæp "convenient, fit").

This is reconstructed (Watkins) to be from PIE root *kob- "to suit, fit, succeed" (source also of Sanskrit kob "good omen; congratulations, good wishes," Old Irish cob "victory," Norwegian heppa "lucky, favorable, propitious," Old Church Slavonic kobu "fate, foreboding, omen").

The meaning "good fortune" in English is attested from early 13c. Old Norse seems to have had the word only in positive senses.

also from c. 1200

hap(v.)

"to come to pass, be the case," c. 1300, from hap (n.) "chance, fortune, luck, fate," or from Old English hæppan.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to hap

haphazard(adj.)

"characterized by randomness, chance, accidental," 1670s, from noun meaning "a chance, accident" (1570s), from hap (n.) "chance, luck" + hazard (n.) "risk, danger, peril." Related: Haphazardly.

hapless(adj.)

"unfortunate, luckless," c. 1400, from hap (n.) in the sense "good luck" + -less. Related: Haplessly; haplessness.

  • haply
  • happen
  • happy
  • mayhap
  • mishap
  • See All Related Words (7)
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More to explore

happen
late 14c., happenen, "to come to pass, occur, come about, be the case," literally "occur by hap, have the (good or bad) fortune (to do, be, etc.);" extension (with verb-formative -n) of the more common hap (v.). Old English used gelimpan, gesceon, and Middle English also had befa
happy
late 14c., "lucky, favored by fortune, being in advantageous circumstances, prosperous;" of events, "turning out well," from hap (n.) "chance, fortune" + -y (2). Sense of "very glad" first recorded late 14c. Meaning "greatly pleased and content" is from 1520s. Old English had ead
occur
1520s, "meet, meet in argument," from French occurrer "happen unexpectedly" or directly from Latin occurrere "run to meet, run against, befall, present itself," from ob "against, toward" (see ob-) + currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run"). Sense development is from "meet
heap
things); great number, crowd, multitude (of persons)," from West Germanic *haupaz (source also of Old Saxon hop, Old Frisian hap...
intervene
1580s, "intercept" (obsolete), a back-formation from intervention, or else from Latin intervenire "to come between, intervene; interrupt; stand in the way, oppose, hinder," from inter "between" (see inter-) + venire "to come," from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."
recoil
c. 1200, recoilen, transitive, "force back, drive back, beat back" (senses now archaic or obsolete); c. 1300, intransitive, "shrink back, retreat," from Old French reculer "to go back, give way, recede, retreat" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *reculare, from Latin re- "back" (see re-)
anticipate
1530s, "to cause to happen sooner," a back-formation from anticipation, or else from Latin anticipatus, past participle of anticipare "take (care of) ahead of time," literally "taking into possession beforehand," from anti, an old form of ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front
backfire
1832, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing wildfire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The noun meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is recorded by 1897
shine
Middle English shinen, from Old English scinan "shed, send forth, or give out light; be radiant, be resplendent, illuminate," of persons, "be conspicuous" (class I strong verb; past tense scan, past participle scinen). This is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *skeinanan (s
proceed
late 14c., proceden, "to go, go on, move in a certain direction, go about one's business," also "to emanate from, result from; to issue or come, as from an origin or course," from Old French proceder (13c., Modern French procéder) and directly from Latin procedere (past participl

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Dictionary entries near hap
  • Hanse
  • Hanseatic
  • Hansen's disease
  • hansom
  • Hanukkah
  • hap
  • hapax legomenon
  • haphazard
  • hapless
  • haplo-
  • haplography
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