Occurrence

How to spell occurrence

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce occurrence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does occurrence mean?

1. nounSomething that happens or takes place, especially an incident or event.

Occurrence in a sentence

• Snow in May is a rare occurrence.

• A power cut is a rare occurrence here.

• The strange occurrence left everyone puzzled.

Where does occurrence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin verb occurrere, meaning 'to run toward' or 'to present itself', formed from ob (toward, against) and currere (to run). The literal image is of something running up to meet you, which softened into the sense of an event simply happening or coming to pass. English took the verb 'occur' from this source in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the noun 'occurrence' followed to name a thing that has occurred. The same currere root races through a whole family of English words, including 'current', 'recur', and 'excursion'. The notorious spelling trap is the double consonants: two c's and two r's, because the Latin prefix oc- doubles before currere, and the -ence ending (not -ance) catches even careful adult writers.

How the word is built

• oc- (from ob-: toward, against)
• cur (from currere: to run)
• -ence (noun suffix)