Meanings
present singular third person happens · participle present happening · participle past happened · past happened
- intransitiveTo occur or take place.
Let me tell you how it happened.
2 more examples
I hear there're fireworks happening tonight.
Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21Synonyms: come to pass
- archaictransitiveTo happen to; to befall.
'By my soul! I believe something bad has happened me,' he muttered, and popped up his window, and looked out, half dreaming over the church-yard on the park beyond […]
1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard - impersonalintransitivewith infinitiveTo do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.
Do you happen to have an umbrella?
3 more examples
Take an umbrella in case it happens to rain.
If you should (happen to) need any help, I'll be there.
It happened that a police car was passing my house just at that moment.
- informalTo become popular or trendy.
- dialectalnot comparableobsoletemaybe, perhaps.
Yeah, well happen if he'd gone quietly, she wouldn't have needed to show him who's in charge.
2016, Sally Wainwright, Happy Valley, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire), Manchester: Red Production Company; distributed by BBC Studios, published 2016
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo occur or take place.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcome to pass
verbhappen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance
verbcome upon, as if by accident; meet with
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kob-
- Proto-Germanic*hampą
- Proto-Germanic*hampijaną
- Old Norse*happader.?
- Proto-Germanic*hampijaną
- Old Norse*heppader.?
- Old Englishhæppander.?
- Middle Englishhappen
- Middle Englishhappenen
- Englishhappen
From Middle English happenen, hapnen, augmented from Middle English happen (“to come to pass, 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”). Equivalent to hap (“a chance, occurrence, byfall”) + -en (verbal suffix).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans aangaan
- aangaanto occur
Ancient Greek τυγχάνω, συμφέρω
- τυγχάνω (tunkhánō)to occur
- συμφέρω (sumphérō)to occur
Arabic حَدَثَ, جَرَى
- حَدَثَ (ḥadaṯa)to occur
- جَرَى (jarā)to occur
- حَصَلَ (ḥaṣala)to occur
- وَقَعَ (waqaʕa)to occur
Basque gertatu, bururatu
- gertatuto occur
- bururatuto occur
Bengali ঘটা
- ঘটা (ghoṭa)to occur
Bulgarian слу́чвам се, ста́вам
- слу́чвам се (slúčvam se)to occur
- ста́вам (stávam)to occur
Catalan passar, ocórrer
- passarto occur
- ocórrerto occur
- succeirto occur
Chinese Cantonese 發生 /发生
- 發生 /发生to occur
Chinese Mandarin 發生 /发生
- 發生 /发生 (fāshēng)to occur
Czech stát se, dít se
- stát seto occur
- dít seto occur
- dějít seto occur
Danish ske, hænde
- sketo occur
- hændeto occur
- indtræffeto occur
- forefaldeto occur
Dutch gebeuren
- gebeurento occur
Esperanto okazi
- okazito occur
Estonian juhtuma, toimuma
- juhtumato occur
- toimumato occur
Finnish tapahtua, käydä
- tapahtuato occur
- käydäto occur
- sattuato occur
- sattuato occur by chance, unexpectedly
French arriver, se produire
- arriverto occur
- se produireto occur
- se passerto occur
- advenirto occur
German geschehen, passieren
- geschehento occur
- passierento occur
- sich ereignento occur
- stattfindento occur
- vorfallento occur
Greek συμβαίνω, γίνομαι
- συμβαίνω (symvaíno)to occur
- γίνομαι (gínomai)to occur
- τυχαίνω (tychaíno)to occur
- λαχαίνω (lachaíno)to occur
- τυγχάνω (tyncháno)to occur
- διαδραματίζομαι (diadramatízomai)to occur
- σημειώνομαι (simeiónomai)to occur
Hawaiian hana, loʻohia
- hanato occur
- loʻohiato occur
Hebrew קָרָה, הָלַךְ
- קָרָה (kará)to occur
- הָלַךְ (halákh)to occur
- הִתְרַחֵשׁ (hitrakhésh)to occur
Hindi बीतना
- बीतना (bītnā)to occur
Hungarian történik, megtörténik
- történikto occur
- megtörténikto occur
- megesikto occur
Icelandic bera við, henda
- bera viðto occur
- hendato occur
- verðato occur
- vilja tilto occur
- gerastto occur
Indonesian terjadi
- terjadito occur
Irish tarlaigh
- tarlaighto occur
Italian accadere, succedere
- accadereto occur
- succedereto occur
- occorrereto occur
Japanese 起こる, 起る
- 起こる (okoru)to occur
- 起る (okoru)to occur
Korean 일어나다, 발생하다
- 일어나다 (ireonada)to occur
- 발생하다 (balsaenghada)to occur
Latin fiō, accidō
- fiōto occur
- accidōto occur
- contingoto occur
- evenioto occur
- cadoto occur
- intercidoto occur
- eoto occur
Latvian notikt
- notiktto occur
Lithuanian atsitikti, vykti
- atsitiktito occur
- vyktito occur
- įvyktito occur
Māori ahatia
- ahatiato occur
Norwegian inntreffe, skje
- inntreffeto occur
- skjeto occur
- hendeto occur
Norwegian Bokmål foregå
- foregåto occur
Persian روی دادن, اتفاق افتادن
- روی دادن (ruy dâdan)to occur
- اتفاق افتادن (ettefâq oftâdan)to occur
- واقع شدن (vâqe' šodan)to occur
- پیشامد کردن (pišâmad kardan)to occur
Polish zdarzać się, zdarzyć się
- zdarzać sięto occur
- zdarzyć sięto occur
- wydarzać sięto occur
- wydarzyć sięto occur
- dziać sięto occur
- stać sięto occur
- trafiać sięto occur
- trafić sięto occur
- przypadkiemto occur by chance, unexpectedly
Portuguese acontecer, suceder
- acontecerto occur
- sucederto occur
- ocorrerto occur
Romanian întâmpla, petrece
- întâmplato occur
- petreceto occur
Russian происходи́ть, произойти́
- происходи́ть (proisxodítʹ)to occur
- произойти́ (proizojtí)to occur
- случа́ться (slučátʹsja)to occur
- случи́ться (slučítʹsja)to occur
- состоя́ться (sostojátʹsja)to occur
Scottish Gaelic tachair, turchair
- tachairto occur
- turchairto occur
- tàrlaidhto occur
Slovak stať sa, udiať sa
- stať sato occur
- udiať sato occur
Spanish suceder, acaecer
- sucederto occur
- acaecerto occur
- acontecerto occur
Swahili kutukia, kutokea
- kutukiato occur
- kutokeato occur
Swedish hända, ske
- händato occur
- sketo occur
- inträffato occur
- äga rumto occur
- förekommato occur
Tagalog mangyari
- mangyarito occur
Tamil ஆகு, நட
- ஆகு (āku)to occur
- நட (naṭa)to occur
Thai เกิด
- เกิด (gə̀ət)to occur
Turkish olmak, oluşmak
- olmakto occur
- oluşmakto occur
- yer bulmakto occur
- meydana gelmekto occur
- teşekkül etmekto occur
- vuku bulmakto occur
- vaki olmakto occur
- gerçekleşmekto occur
- tahakkuk etmekto occur
Ukrainian става́тися, ста́тися
- става́тися (stavátysja)to occur
- ста́тися (státysja)to occur
- трапля́тися (trapljátysja)to occur
- тра́питися (trápytysja)to occur
- відбува́тися (vidbuvátysja)to occur
- відбу́тися (vidbútysja)to occur
- чини́тися (čynýtysja)to occur
- учини́тися (učynýtysja)to occur
- зчини́тися (zčynýtysja)to occur
- роби́тися (robýtysja)to occur
- зроби́тися (zrobýtysja)to occur
Urdu بیتنا, ہونا
- بیتنا (bītnā)to occur
- ہونا (honā)to occur
Vietnamese xảy ra, xảy đến
- xảy rato occur
- xảy đếnto occur
Welsh digwydd
- digwyddto occur
Yiddish געשען
- געשען (geshen)to occur
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with happen
All rhymes →Cite this entry
happen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/happen
“happen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/happen. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “happen,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/happen.
Source: happen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.