mishappen

M3I1S1H4A1P3P3E1N1
UK/mɪsˈhap(ə)n/

verb

To encounter grief or misfortune.

OriginMiddle English mishapnen →
Scrabble 18
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Meanings

verbmishappen (third-person singular simple present mishappens, present participle mishappening, simple past and past participle mishappened)

present singular third person mishappens · participle present mishappening · participle past mishappened · past mishappened

  1. obsoleteTo encounter grief or misfortune.
  2. archaicTo happen through misfortune.

    His fearefull friends weare out the wofull night, / Ne dare to weepe, nor seeme to vnderstand / The heauie hap, which on them is alight, / Affraid, least to themselues the like mishappen might.

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  3. intransitiveTo happen ill; fare ill.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishmishapnen
  2. Englishmishappen

From Middle English mishapnen, equivalent to mis- + happen.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with mishappen

happentappenVerstappenbehappenmayhappenrehappenunhappen
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

mishappen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mishappen

MLA

“mishappen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mishappen. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mishappen,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mishappen.

Source: mishappen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.