befall
/bɪˈfɔl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.71 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "At dusk an unusual calm befalls the wetlands."
- "It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon [...] that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time."
- "Temptation befell me."
- "But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred[…]"
- "I beseech your grace that I may know / The worst that may befall me."
- "As we’ve said before, with the exception of communism itself, the euro has been the biggest economic catastrophe to befall the continent (and the world) since the 1930s."
Etymology
From Middle English bifallen, from Old English befeallan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifallan, from Proto-Germanic *bifallaną; equivalent to be- + fall.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɪˈfɔl/
- British English: /bɪˈfɔːl/