Etymology

misbefall

M3I1S1B3E1F4A1L1L1

Today it means: Of an event, to happen unfortunately to (a person). Full definition →

English befall ← Middle English mys- ← Old English mis-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Englishbefall
  10. English todaymisbefall

From mis- + befall.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.