different between happen vs occurrence

English

Etymology

From Middle English happenen, hapnen, augmented from Middle English happen (“to come to pass, happen”), perhaps from Old English hæppan (“to move accidentally, slip”) and/or from Old Norse *happa, *heppa, from Proto-Germanic *hampijan? (“to fit in, be fitting”). Equivalent to hap (“a chance, occurrence, byfall”) +? -en (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæp?n/
• Rhymes: -æp?n

Verb

happen (third-person singular simple present happens, present participle happening, simple past and past participle happened)

1. (intransitive) To occur or take place.

   Synonyms: come to pass; see also Thesaurus:happen

2. (transitive, archaic) To happen to; to befall.
3. (intransitive or impersonal, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

4. (followed by on or upon) To encounter by chance.
   • 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, ch. 30:

     Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

Usage notes

• In the sense which indicates a chance occurrence, happen is a catenative verb that takes the to-infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

Related terms

• happening
• happenstance

Translations

Adverb

happen (not comparable)

1. (obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???p?(n)/
• Rhymes: -?p?n

Verb

happen

1. to take a bite

Inflection

Noun

happen

1. Plural form of hap

English

Etymology

From Middle French occurrence, from Medieval Latin occurrentia.

Morphologically occur +? -ence.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??k???n(t)s/, /??k????n(t)s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??k??n(t)s/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /??k???n(t)s/, /??k????n(t)s/
• In accents without the hurry-furry merger, /??/ is nevertheless occasionally heard through influence of occur.

Noun

occurrence (plural occurrences)

1. An actual instance when a situation occurs; an event or happening.
2. (grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change in or over time.

   Antonym: state

   Hyponyms: accomplishment, achievement, activity

Usage notes

• This word is often misspelled occurence, occurrance or occurance.

Related terms

• recurrence

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.ky.???s/

Noun

occurrence f (plural occurrences)

1. occurrence

Derived terms

• en l'occurrence

Further reading

• “occurrence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).