Occurred

How to spell occurred

8 letters · 2 syllables

The most common mistake is occured. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

occured occurred

What people typed instead

• occured5 people

How to pronounce occurred

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does occurred mean?

1. verbTook place or came about, especially as an event or incident.
2. verbCame into someone's mind as a thought or realisation.

Occurred in a sentence

• The accident occurred at the junction during rush hour.

• It occurred to him that he had left the keys at home.

• A sudden power cut occurred in the middle of the meeting.

• The solution occurred to her while she was driving to work.

Where does occurred come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base verb 'occur' comes from the Latin occurrere, which literally meant 'to run toward' or 'to run to meet'. It was formed from the prefix ob-, here meaning 'toward' or 'against', joined to currere, the verb 'to run', the same root that gives us 'current', 'courier', and 'recur'. The original sense of something running up to meet you softened over time into the idea of an event presenting itself or a thought coming into the mind. English took the word in during the 1500s, and from the start it carried both senses: a thing happening, and an idea striking someone. The past tense 'occurred' doubles the final r because the stress falls on the last syllable, the same rule that doubles the r in 'referred' and 'preferred'; that doubled consonant is exactly the spot where writers slip, sometimes dropping an r or losing the second c.

How the word is built

• oc- (from ob-: toward, against)
• cur (run, from Latin currere)
• -red (past tense, with doubled r)