perchance

P3E1R1C3H4A1N1C3E1
UK/ˌpɜːˈtʃɑːns/UK/pəˈtʃɑːns/US/ˌpɜɹˈtʃæns/US/pəɹˈtʃæns/

adverb

Perhaps.

“You wouldn't, perchance, have a bottle opener on you, would you?”

Similar
perhapsmaybeperadventuremayhappossiblyby chanceby any chance
OriginMiddle English parchaunce ← Old French par cheance ← Vulgar Latin *cadentia →
Less commonScrabble 18
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adverbperchance (not comparable)
  1. humorousliterarynot comparablePerhaps.

    You wouldn't, perchance, have a bottle opener on you, would you?

    3 more examples

    Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him[…]

    1624, John Donne, chapter XVII, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC

    “Yet pull not down my palace towers, that are / So lightly, beautifully built: / Perchance I may return with others there / When I have purged my guilt.”

    1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Palace of Art”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 154

    A great black bird, Apollyon's bosom-friend, / Sailed past, nor beat his wide wing dragon-penned / That brushed my cap—perchance the guide I sought.

    1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, section XXVII

    Synonyms: perhaps, maybe, peradventure, mayhap, possibly, by chance, by any chance

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbPerhaps.

Similar
perhapsmaybeperadventuremayhappossiblyby chanceby any chance

More synonyms by meaning

adverbthrough chance

Similar
by chance

adverbby chance

Similar
possiblyperhapsmaybemayhapperadventure
Also see
by any chanceby chancehapchancemaybemayhapperadventureperhapspossibly

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Italic*per
  4. Latinper
  5. Old Frenchpar
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ḱad-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ḱádeti
  8. Proto-Italic*kadō
  9. Latincadō
  10. Latincadēns
  11. Vulgar Latin*cadentia
  12. Old Frenchcheance
  13. Old Frenchpar cheance
  14. Middle Englishparchaunce
  15. Englishperchance

From Middle English parchaunce, from Old French par cheance (“by chance”).

More words from Middle English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian случайно, може би
  • случайно (slučajno)perhaps, by chance
  • може би (može bi)perhaps, by chance
Dutch mogelijkerwijs
  • mogelijkerwijsperhaps, by chance
Polish być może, przypadkiem
  • być możeperhaps, by chance
  • przypadkiemperhaps, by chance
Portuguese porventura
  • porventuraperhaps, by chance
Spanish por ventura
  • por venturaperhaps, by chance

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with perchance

FrancefinancedanceadvancechanceenhanceromanceglanceentranceHanslancestanceVanceAfrikaansPenzanceexpanserancehancemanseaskanceprancepsytrancehanseavaunce
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

perchance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perchance

MLA

“perchance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perchance. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “perchance,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perchance.

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