hap

hap · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*kob-
2. Proto-Germanic*hampą
3. Old Norsehapp
4. Middle Englishhap
5. English todayhap

From Middle English hap, happe (“chance, hap, luck, fortune”), potentially cognate with or from Old English ġehæp (“fit, convenient”) and/or Old Norse happ (“hap, chance, good luck”), from Proto-Germanic *hampą (“convenience, happiness”), from Proto-Indo-European *kob- (“good fortune, prophecy; to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed”). Cognate with Icelandic happ (“hap, chance, good luck”). Related also to Icelandic heppinn (“lucky, fortunate, happy”), Old Danish hap (“fortunate”), Swedish hampa (“to turn out”), Old Church Slavonic кобь (kobĭ, “fate”), Old Irish cob (“victory”). The verb is from Middle English happen, perhaps from Old English hæppan (“to move accidentally, slip”) and/or from Old Norse *happa, *heppa, from Proto-Germanic *hampijaną (“to fit in, be fitting”), from the noun. Cognate with Old Danish happe (“to chance, happen”), Norwegian heppa (“to occur, happen”).

hap · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European*kob-
2. Proto-Germanic*hampą
3. Proto-Germanic*hampijaną
4. Old Norse*happader.?
5. Proto-Germanic*hampijaną
6. Old Norse*heppader.?
7. Old Englishhæppander.?
8. Middle Englishhappen
9. Middle Englishhappenen
10. Englishhappen
11. Englishhappeningclip.
12. English todayhap

Clipping of happening.

hap · noun, verb³

1. Old English · inherited fromhap
2. Old English · inherited fromhap
3. English todayhap

Inherited from Old English hap.

hap · noun⁴

Shortening of New Latin Haplochromis.

Words from the same roots