luck
/lʌk/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms lucks lucking lucked
- noun Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence. “The raffle is just a matter of luck.”
- noun (especially) A favourable chance occurrence. “Sometimes it takes a bit of luck to get success.”
- noun A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success. “He blew on the dice for luck.”
- noun Success. “I tried for ages to find a pair of blue suede shoes, but didn't have any luck.”
- noun (video games, computing) The results of a random number generator. “The creators of tool-assisted speedruns often manipulate luck to get the most favorable results in order to save the most time.”
- verb (intransitive, informal) To find something through good fortune; used with into, on, onto or upon.
- proper noun A surname transferred from the given name.
Synonyms
chance fortune good luck hap fortuitousness felicity fortuity good cess good fortune happiness adventure accident casualty chance-medley hazard joss serendipity weird destiny fate lot circumstances portion
Etymology
From Middle English luk, lukke, from Middle Dutch luc, geluc, gelucke (“good luck, fortune”) or Middle Low German lücke, gelücke (“lot, fortune, fate, luck”), of obscure origin; perhaps ultimately related to German Lücke (“gap, opening”) in the sense of "space or opportunity", hence "chance". Cognate with West Frisian gelok (“luck”), Saterland Frisian Gluk (“luck”), Dutch luk, geluk (“luck, happiness”), Dutch Low Saxon luk (“luck”), German Low German and German Glück (“luck, good fortune, happiness”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lykke (“luck, happiness”), Norwegian Nynorsk lukke (“luck, happiness”), Swedish lycka (“luck, happiness”), Icelandic lukka (“happiness”). According to the OED, it may be related to lock.
A loanword into English in the 15th century (probably as a gambling term), Middle Dutch luc, gelucke has parallels with Middle High German lücke, gelücke ("luck, skill, chance, profession, livelihood"; whence Modern German Glück). The word occurs only from the 12th century, apparently first in Rhine Frankish. Perhaps from a Frankish *galukki, derived from Proto-Germanic *lukjǭ (“opening”). The word enters standard Middle High German during the 13th century, and spreads to English and Scandinavian in the Late Middle Ages. Its origin seems to have been regional or dialectal, and there were competing German words such as gevelle or schick, or the Latinate fortūne from Latin fortūna. Its etymology is unknown, although there are numerous proposals as to its derivations from a number of roots.
Use as a verb in American English is late (1940s), but there was a Middle English verb lukken (“to chance, to happen by good fortune”) in the 15th century.
From the given name Luke.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune; as, good, bad, ill, or hard luck. Luck is often used for good luck; as, luck is better than skill.
Etymology [Akin to D. luk, geluk, G. glück, Icel. lukka, Sw. lycka, Dan. lykke, and perh. to G. locken to entice. Cf. 3d Gleck.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “luck”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details