different between serendipity vs wonder

English

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): /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/, /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/

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.
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.

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

Translations

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English wonder, wunder, from Old English wundor (“wonder, miracle, marvel”), from Proto-Germanic *wundr?. Cognate with Scots wunner (“wonder”), West Frisian wonder, wûnder (“wonder, miracle”), Dutch wonder (“miracle, wonder”), Low German wunner, wunder (“wonder”), German Wunder (“miracle, wonder”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish under (“wonder, miracle”), Icelandic undur (“wonder”).

The verb is from Middle English wondren, from Old English wundrian, which is from Proto-Germanic *wundr?n?. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wunnerje, West Frisian wûnderje, Dutch wonderen, German Low German wunnern, German wundern, Swedish undra, Icelandic undra.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)
• Hyphenation: won?der

Noun

wonder (countable and uncountable, plural wonders)

1. Something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel.
2. Something astonishing and seemingly inexplicable.

3. Someone very talented at something, a genius.

4. The sense or emotion which can be inspired by something curious or unknown; surprise; astonishment, often with awe or reverence.
   • 1781, Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets

     All wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance.

   • 1871, Plato, Benjamin Jowett (translator), Theaetetus (section 155d)

     Socrates: I see, my dear Theaetetus, that Theodorus had a true insight into your nature when he said that you were a philosopher, for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. He was not a bad genealogist who said that Iris (the messenger of heaven) is the child of Thaumas (wonder).

5. (Britain, informal) A mental pondering, a thought.
6. (US) A kind of donut; a cruller.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

wonder (third-person singular simple present wonders, present participle wondering, simple past and past participle wondered)

1. (intransitive) To be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel; often followed by at.
   • October 8, 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 163

     Some had read the manuscript, and rectified its inaccuracies; others had seen it in a state so imperfect, that the could not forbear to wonder at its present excellence.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To ponder; to feel doubt and curiosity; to query in the mind.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• bewonder
• forwonder
• unwonder
• wonderer

Synonyms

• thauma

Translations

Anagrams

• Nedrow, Rowden, Worden, downer, red won, wondre

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch wonder, wunder, from Old Dutch wundar, from Proto-Germanic *wundr?, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh?- (“to wish for, desire, strive for, win, love”). Compare Low German wunder, wunner, German Wunder, West Frisian wonder, wûnder, English wonder, Danish under.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???n.d?r/
• Hyphenation: won?der
• Rhymes: -?nd?r

Noun

wonder n (plural wonderen, diminutive wondertje n)

1. wonder, miracle

Synonyms

• mirakel

Derived terms

• wonderteken
• wonderlijk

Anagrams

• worden