happen

/ˈhæpən/

happen verb: to occur or take place.

Verb

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

(intransitive) To occur or take place.
- Let me tell you how it happened.
- Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
Synonyms:

come to pass
(archaic, transitive) To happen to; to befall.
- 'By my soul! I believe something bad has happened me,' he muttered, and popped up his window, and looked out, half dreaming over the church-yard on the park beyond […]1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
(impersonal, intransitive, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.
- Take an umbrella in case it happens to rain.
- Do you happen to have an umbrella?
To encounter by chance.
- Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 30, in The Marble Faun
(informal) To become popular or trendy.

Adverb

happen (not comparable)

(dialectal, obsolete) maybe, perhaps.
- Yeah, well happen if he'd gone quietly, she wouldn't have needed to show him who's in charge.2016, Sally Wainwright, Happy Valley, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire), Manchester: Red Production Company; distributed by BBC Studios, published 2016

happen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

happen in Marathi

to happen: घडणे ghaḍaṇe, होणे hoṇe

happen in Urdu

to occur: بیتنا bītnā, ہونا honā

More languagesFewer languages

happen in Bengali: ঘটা ghoṭa
happen in Telugu: మూడు mūḍu, పెట్టు peṭṭu, భవించు bhaviñcu, కలుగు kalugu
happen in Malayalam: സംഭവിക്കുക sambhavikkuka, ആകുക ākuka, നടക്കുക naṭakkuka, പെടുക peṭuka
happen in Kannada: ಬೀಳು bīḷu
happen in Punjabi: ਵਰਤਣਾ vartaṇā, ਹੋਣਾ hoṇā, ہونا hoṇā
happen in Gujarati: થવું thavũ, વીતવું vītvũ
happen in Odia: ଘଟିବା ghaṭibā, ହେବା hebā, ଚାଲିବା cālibā, ଲାଗିବା lāgibā
happen in Sanskrit: भवति bhávati, घट् ghaṭ
happen in Assamese: ঘটা ghota
happen in Nepali: लाग्नु lāgnu
happen in Tagalog: mangyari
happen in Arabic: حَدَثَ ḥadaṯa, جَرَى jarā, حَصَلَ ḥaṣala, وَقَعَ waqaʕa
happen in Indonesian: terjadi
happen in Persian: روی دادن ruy dâdan, اتفاق افتادن ettefâq oftâdan, واقع شدن vâqe' šodan, پیشامد کردن pišâmad kardan
happen in Thai: เกิด gə̀ət
happen in Vietnamese: xảy ra, xảy đến
happen in Myanmar: ဖြစ် hprac

Examples of happen in a sentence

If you should (happen to) need any help, I'll be there.
It happened that a police car was passing my house just at that moment.

All 40 example sentences with happen

Synonyms of happen

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of happen

Forms of happen

third-person singular present	happens
present participle	happening
past participle	happened
past	happened

Past tense of happen: happened

Origin of happen

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 *hampijaną (“to fit in, be fitting”). Equivalent to hap (“a chance, occurrence, byfall”) + -en (verbal suffix).

Words formed from happen

Phrases with happen

Words that rhyme with happen

Questions about happen

What does happen mean?: Happen means to occur or take place.
What is happen in Hindi?: Happen in Hindi is बीतना (bītnā). See Happen meaning in Hindi.
How do you use happen in a sentence?: If you should (happen to) need any help, I'll be there.
What part of speech is happen?: Happen can be a verb or an adverb.
How do you pronounce happen?: Happen is pronounced /ˈhæpən/.
What is the past tense of happen?: The past tense of happen is happened.

Words near happen in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-happen.ogg.

Cite this entry: “happen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/happen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.