Etymograph

English

chance

Chance comes from Old French cheance ‘accident, chance, luck’, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia ‘falling’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-ti2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō3‘to fall’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō1as cadere‘to fall’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*cadentia1‘falling’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cheance1‘accident’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chance1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1795chance1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English chance
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadō
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin cado
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, Robert Southey: “Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-Wiktionary, English chancereconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tiWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadōreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadōWiktionary, Latin cado‘to fall’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadōWiktionary, English chanceas cadere‘to fall’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*cadentiaWiktionary, English chance‘falling’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cheanceWiktionary, English chance‘accident’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chanceWiktionary, English chance
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1795chanceWiktionary, English chance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, Robert Southey: “Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with chance, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d-

through Latin cadō ‘to fall, to die, to happen, occur’

  • case ← cas ← cas ← cāsus
  • accident ← accidēns ← accidō
  • occasion ← occasioun ← occasiun ← occāsiōnem
  • incident ← incidens ← incidō
  • decay ← decaien ← decaeir ← *dēcadere ← dēcidō
  • cheat ← achetan ← escheat ← *excadēre
  • casualty ← casuel ← casualitas ← cāsus

26 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of chance

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chancen
  2. Englishtodaychance

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Today it means

noun An opportunity or possibility.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kadō, Latin cado. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- / chance