occurrence English · revision 39708

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=1539, T. Cromwell, letter}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɜː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * UK: /əˈkʌɹ.əns/, /əˈkɜː.ɹəns/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /əˈkɜɹ.əns/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OED gives two possible sources: [[la-med|occurrentia|t=occasion, happening, event]], recorded from the 14th century or earlier and formed on [[m|la|occurrēns]], the present participle of [[m|la|occurrō|t=to run to meet, befall]]; or the English adjective [[occurrent]] with the suffix [[-ence]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The SOED, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Merriam-Webster think it probably began as the plural of the noun ''occurrent'', an occurrence, later reshaped after pairs such as [[abstinent]] and [[abstinence]].^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline also allows [[m|frm|occurrence|t=unexpected happening]],^(Etymonline) which the OED compares.^(OED 2026) Klein treats it as formed from [[occur]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Something that happens; an event or incident: 1539, in a letter of Thomas Cromwell.^(OED 2026) Merriam-Webster gives the same year,^(MWU 2024) Etymonline the 1530s^(Etymonline) and Dictionary.com 1530–40.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 16th century the word also meant, as a mass noun, whatever occurs or presents itself, a use now obsolete.^(OED 2026) Edward Topsell used it in 1607 for a chance meeting, an obsolete sense.^(OED 2026) The sense "the fact of occurring or being found", as of a mineral or a word, is recorded from 1725, in Isaac Watts's ''Logick'',^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) and the frequency or distribution of something from 1921, in ecology.^(OED 2026) In church use ''occurrence'' is the falling of two festivals on the same day (1863).^(OED 2026) Etymonline notes that the adjective ''occurrent'', "occurring, incidental", recorded from the mid-15th century, is long obsolete.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1539 – an event or incident.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1607 – a chance meeting (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1725 – the fact of occurring or being found.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1863 – the coincidence of two church festivals.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1921 – frequency or distribution.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that happens; an [[event]] or [[incident]]: ''Power cuts were a weekly occurrence.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The fact or an instance of happening, existing or being found: ''the occurrence of gold in the hills''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # The rate or frequency with which something occurs.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[occurrent]]

+ * [[nonoccurrence]]

+ * [[preoccurrence]]

+ * [[reoccurrence]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[recurrence]]

+ * [[occur]]

+ * [[current]]

+ * [[concurrence]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Dictionary.com refers ''occurrence'' to its synonym study at ''event'', and lists ''circumstance'' as a synonym.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}