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happen

verb
/ˈhæpən/

Etymology

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).

  1. derived from *hampijaną✻ — “to fit in, be fitting”
  2. derived from *happa✻
  3. inherited from hæppan — “to move accidentally, slip”
  4. derived from happen — “to come to pass, happen”
  5. inherited from happenen

Definitions

  1. To occur or take place.

    • Let me tell you how it happened.
    • 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.

  2. To happen to

    To 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 […]

  3. To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

    • Take an umbrella in case it happens to rain.
    • Do you happen to have an umbrella?
    • If you should (happen to) need any help, I'll be there.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. To encounter by chance.

      • Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

    2. To become popular or trendy.

    3. maybe, perhaps.

      • Yeah, well happen if he'd gone quietly, she wouldn't have needed to show him who's in charge.

The neighborhood

Derived

accidents will happen, accidents will happen in the best regulated families, accident waiting to happen, as it happens, behappen, couldn't happen to a nicer, disaster waiting to happen, happenable, happen across, happen along, happen by, happenchance, happener, happeningly, happen on, happen upon, if it happens, it happens, it so happens, make fetch happen, make happen, mappen, mishappen, or it didn't happen, pics or it didn't happen, pictures or it didn't happen, rehappen, shit happens, these things happen, unhappen, waiting to happen, what's happening, worse things happen at sea

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at happen. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01happen02occur03offer04terms05term06bound07obliged08grateful09agreeable10ready

A definitional loop anchored at happen. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at happen

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA