coincidence
/kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns/
noun
Origin
Latin
coincidere — to fall together
Overview
Meaning Now
- A remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another.
- The fact of corresponding in nature, time, or place.
Literal older meaning
a falling together
Language path
Latin → Medieval Latin → French → English
Earliest form
coincidence
Earliest period
17th century
Journey
The term emerged in scientific and philosophical discourse during the early 17th century to describe events that occupied the same time or space without implying a causal relationship. It shifted from a neutral observation of geometric or temporal alignment to its modern sense of a surprising or unlikely pairing of events.
Evolution
- Latin
coincidere
“to fall together, occur at the same time”
From 'com-' (together) + 'incidere' (to fall upon).
- Medieval Latin
coincidentia
“concurrence”
- 17th Century English
coincidence
“the state of occurring together”
First appears in works such as those by Sir Francis Bacon.
Connections
Word parts
co-
prefix
together
incide
root
fall upon
-nce
suffix
forming a noun indicating a state or quality
Related across languages
French
coïncidence
coincidence
German
Koinzidenz
coincidence
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Related to coincidence
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.