coincidence

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kəʊˈɪn.sɪ.dəns/, US /koʊˈɪn.sɪ.dəns/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French coïncidence,^[2][3] from coïncider, from Medieval Latin coincidere, to fall upon together,^[2][3] from co-, together, in-, upon, and cadere, to fall (see coincide).^[2] The NODE derives it from Medieval Latin coincidentia.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Exact agreement in substance or nature: 1605 in the OED and Merriam-Webster, about 1600 in Etymonline.^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Occupying the same place is from 1626,^[5][4] and happening at the same time from the 1640s, 1650 in the OED.^[2][5] A notable concurrence of events with no apparent connection, the modern main sense, is from the 1680s, perhaps first in Sir Thomas Browne's writings.^[2][5] An instance of coincidence, a coincidence, is from 1837.^[5]

Timeline

• 1605 – exact agreement.^[5][3]
• 1626 – occupying the same place.^[5]
• 1650 – happening at the same time.^[5]
• 1680s – a chance concurrence.^[2]
• 1837 – a coincidence.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A striking chance occurrence of two or more events at the same time, seemingly connected but not so.
2. The fact or state of coinciding in space or time.

Word family

• noncoincidence

Related words

• coincide
• coincident
• coincidental
• coincidentally
• incident
• accident
• cadence

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press