kismet
English
WOTD – 23 November 2007
Etymology
From Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kısmet, “fate, destiny”) (Turkish kısmet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma, “division, lot, destiny”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ˈkɪz.mɛt/, /ˈkɪs.mɛt/
,Audio (US) (file) Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
kismet (usually uncountable, plural kismets)
- Fate; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny.
- 1887, Rudyard Kipling, Bitters Neat:
- But these things are kismet, and we only find out all about them just when any knowledge is too late.
- 1917, Percival Christopher Wren, “The Rafters”, in The Young Stagers:
- "Golly!" he cried. "I'm awfully sorry, Bo'sun, but you're It. You're luck's clean out to-day. What rotten Kismet you do have. The Lot fell on you all right, smack in the middle of your chest."
- 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter III, in The Camel's Back:
- But at this point fickle Kismet, who for a day had played with him bitterly and sardonically, decided to reward him in full for the amusement he had afforded her. Kismet turned the tawny eyes of the snake-charmer to the camel. Kismet led her to lean toward the man beside her and say, "Who's that? That camel?"
- 2019 June 8, Kitty Empire, “Madonna: Madame X review – a splendidly bizarre return to form”, in The Guardian:
- Sexualised Catholicism, at the dawn of MTV, was Madonna’s first stroke of kismet.
Translations
Serbo-Croatian
Alternative forms
- kr̀smet
Etymology
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kismet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kǐsmet/
- Hyphenation: kis‧met
Declension
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