serendipity
/ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.74 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The phenomenon of making an unplanned, fortunate discovery through a combination of unexpected circumstances and insightful recognition.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An unsought, unintended or unexpected, but fortunate, discovery or learning experience that occurs by accident.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The most random serendipity brought the two of us together, and now, we are happily married! If I was just 15 seconds slower, I'd have never met her! This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The Three Princes of Serendip;" as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right – now do you understand Serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental Sagacity, (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description,) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who, happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table."
- "After I got here, in the first lockdown, my mum suddenly passed. It was the week of my final interview with the Mayor. It is serendipity that I am here when my dad really needs me."
- "2007, Erin McKean, speech at TED Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for because finding what you are looking for is so damn difficult."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-Iranian *sinȷ́ʰás Proto-Indo-Aryan *sinźʰás Sanskrit सिंह (siṃha) Proto-Indo-European *-lós Sanskrit -ल (-la) Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala) Proto-Indo-Iranian *dwiHpás Sanskrit द्वीप (dvīpa) Sanskrit सिंहलद्वीप (siṃhaladvīpa) Prakrit *𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮𑀤𑀻𑀯 (*sīhaladīva)bor. Persian سرندیپ (sarandip)bor. Arabic سَرَنْدِيب (sarandīb)bor. English Serendibder. English Serendip Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English serendipity From Serendip (“variant of Serendib: Ceylon, Sri Lanka”) + -ity. Coined by English writer and politician Horace Walpole in 1754 based on the Persian story of the Three Princes of Serendip, who (Walpole wrote to a friend) were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/
- British English: /ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/