serendipity

English

WOTD – 16 September 2007

Etymology

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”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/, /ˌsɛɹ.ɛnˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

serendipity (countable and uncountable, plural serendipities)

1. A combination of events which have come together by chance to make a surprisingly good or wonderful outcome.

   Antonyms: Murphy's law, perfect storm

   • 1754, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, Letter 90, To Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

     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.

   • 2020 December 2, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 54:

     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.

2. An unsought, unintended, and/or unexpected, but fortunate, discovery and/or learning experience that happens by accident.

   Synonyms: chance, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck

   • 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.

3. The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Usage notes

Serendipity is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for luck; more careful usage, particularly in science, emphasizes specifically "finding something when looking for something else, thanks to an observant mind".

The term was virtually unknown until the 1870s, and gained currency in the early 20th century. It became popularized at mid-century, and is now widely used.

Derived terms

• serendipitous
• serendipitously
• serendipity berry

Translations

unsought, unintended... and/or learning experience that happens by accident

• Armenian: սերենդիպություն (serendiputʻyun), երջանիկ պատահականություն (erǰanik patahakanutʻyun)
• Catalan: serendipitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巧事 (qiǎoshì), 機緣湊巧／机缘凑巧 (jīyuán còuqiǎo), 機緣／机缘 (zh) (jīyuán), 机缘巧合

• Danish: lykketræf
• Dutch: serendipiteit (nl) f, toevalstreffer (nl) m
• Finnish: onnekas sattuma, onnenpotku, onnenkantamoinen
• French: sérendipité (fr) f, aubaine (fr) f, heureux hazard m, chance (fr) f, coup de pot (fr) m
• German: (glücklicher) Zufallsfund (de) m, zufällige Entdeckung f, Serendipität (de) f
• Greek: εύνοια της τύχης f (évnoia tis týchis), κωλοφαρδία (el) f (kolofardía), ευτύχημα (el) n (eftýchima), τυχαιότητα (el) f (tychaiótita)
• Icelandic: slembilukka f
• Ido: serendipo (io)
• Italian: scoperta (it), serendipità (it) f
• Japanese: 偶察力 (gūsatsuryoku), セレンディピティ (ja) (serendipiti)
• Polish: szczęśliwy zbieg okoliczności
• Portuguese: serendipidade (pt) f, serendipitia f, serendipismo (pt) m, eventualidade, contingência (pt), acaso (pt)
• Romanian: serendipitate f
• Russian: везу́честь (ru) f (vezúčestʹ)
• Spanish: serendipia (es) f, serendipidad (es) f, serendipicia
• Swedish: serendipitet (sv) c

a combination of events which are not individually beneficial, but occurring together produce a good or wonderful outcome

• Dutch: gelukkig toeval
• Finnish: onnekas sattumien summa
• German: glückliche Fügung n, wunderbares Geschehen n, unverhofftes Glück n, wunderbares Zusammentreffen n, überraschendes Ereignis n, glücklicher Zufall m, Zufallstreffer m, Serendipität (de) f
• Greek: τυχαιότητα (el) f (tychaiótita)
• Ido: serendipo (io)
• Italian: serendipità (it) f
• Portuguese: providência (pt)
• Russian: счастли́вое стече́ние обстоя́тельств n (sčastlívoje stečénije obstojátelʹstv)
• Sicilian: sirinnipità f, sirintipità f
• Slovak: šťastná náhoda f, šťastná zhoda okolností f
• Swedish: serendipitet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: щасливий збіг обста́вин m (ščaslyvyj zbih obstávyn)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} serendipiteit (nl) f
• German: ^{(please verify)} Serendipität (de) f, ^{(please verify)} zufällige Entdeckung (de) f
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} slembifundur m

References

• Goodman, Leo A. Notes on the Etymology of Serendipity and Some Related Philological Observations, Modern Language Notes, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 76, No. 5 (May, 1961), pp. 454–457. (JSTOR)
• Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor G. The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science, Princeton University Press, December 2003, →ISBN
• Remer, Theodore G., ed. Serendipity and the Three Princes, from the Peregrinaggio of 1557, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. LCC 65-10112

Further reading

• serendipity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia