Definition of HAP

hap

Plural: haps

Noun

  • an accidental happening
    • "he recorded all the little haps and mishaps of his life"
  • A person's lot (good or bad), luck, fortune, fate.
  • A stroke of good or bad luck, an occurrence or happening, especially an unexpected, random, chance, or fortuitous event.
  • Happenings; events; goings-on.
  • A wrap, such as a quilt or a comforter. Also, a small or folded blanket placed on the end of a bed to keep feet warm.
  • Any of the cichlid fishes of the tribe Haplochromini.

Verb

Verb Forms: happed, happing, haps

  • To happen; to occur by chance or accident.
  • come to pass
    • "What is happening?"
  • To happen; to befall; to chance.
  • To happen to.
  • To wrap, clothe.

Examples

  • Sometimes a winning word will just HAP upon your rack by sheer luck.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English hap, happe (“chance, hap, luck, fortune”), potentially cognate with or from Old English ġehæp (“fit, convenient”) and/or Old Norse happ (“hap, chance, good luck”), from Proto-Germanic *hampą (“convenience, happiness”), from Proto-Indo-European *kob- (“good fortune, prophecy; to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed”).
Cognate with Icelandic happ (“hap, chance, good luck”). Related also to Icelandic heppinn (“lucky, fortunate, happy”), Old Danish hap (“fortunate”), Swedish hampa (“to turn out”), Old Church Slavonic кобь (kobĭ, “fate”), Old Irish cob (“victory”).
The verb is from Middle English 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”), from the noun. Cognate with Old Danish happe (“to chance, happen”), Norwegian heppa (“to occur, happen”).

Synonyms

come about, fall out, go on, happen, occur, pass, pass off, take place, affairs, bechance, befall, belimp, betide, betime, chance, come to pass, crop up, evene, eventuate, hap, hazard, hold, luck, occurrence, serendipity, tide, transpire

Scrabble Score: 8

hap: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
hap: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hap: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

hap: valid Words With Friends Word