Etymograph

English

hazard

Hazard comes from Old French hasart ‘a game of dice’, and goes back to Arabic اَلزَّهْر.

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentاَلزَّهْر1az-zahr‘the dice’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400hasart1‘a game of dice’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hasard1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594hazard1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hazard
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “I hazarded the loss of whom I loved.”.

Lineage

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentاَلزَّهْرWiktionary, English hazardaz-zahr‘the dice’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400hasartWiktionary, English hazard‘a game of dice’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hasardWiktionary, English hazard
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594hazardWiktionary, English hazard. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “I hazarded the loss of whom I loved.”

Every English word from Arabic اَلزَّهْر

Today it means

noun A game of chance played with dice, usually for monetary stakes, popular mainly from 14th c. to 19th c.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hazard”. 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 / Arabic اَلزَّهْر / hazard

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