Lucky
adjectiveHaving, bringing, or resulting from good fortune.
How to spell lucky
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce lucky
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does lucky mean?
- adjectiveHaving, bringing, or resulting from good fortune.
Lucky in a sentence
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She felt lucky to find a parking space right outside the office.
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He kept a lucky coin in his pocket before every interview.
Where does lucky come from?
Language of origin: Dutch
The word lucky is built on luck, a noun that entered English in the late 1400s, probably borrowed from the Low German or Dutch word luk, a shortened form of gelucke meaning 'good fortune' or 'happiness'. The same Germanic root survives in the modern German Glück, which still means 'luck' or 'happiness'. The word seems to have arrived through trade and gambling contacts across the North Sea, since early uses cluster around games of chance. Adding the native English suffix -y, meaning 'full of' or 'characterised by', produced the adjective lucky, describing a person or thing blessed with good fortune. The spelling stays reassuringly regular, though writers sometimes hesitate over whether to double the final letter when adding endings such as -ier or -iest.
How the word is built
- luck (good fortune)
- -y (adjective suffix: having or full of)
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