hazard

Etymology

From Middle English hasard (“a game at dice”),^[1][2] borrowed from Old French hasard, hasart “game of chance played with dice” (12th century),^[2][3] of uncertain origin.^[2][3] It is often traced via Old Spanish azar to Arabic اَلزَّهْر (az-zahr, “the die”),^[1][4] but this is doubtful because early evidence for zahr in this sense is lacking.^[3][2] The -d was added in French through confusion with the native suffix -ard.^[2]

The sense “chance of loss or harm, risk” is first recorded in the 1540s.^[2]

References

1. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. [1] [2] [3] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. [1] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster