fate

See also: Fate

English

Etymology

From Latin fata (“prediction”), plural of fatum, from fatus (“spoken”), from for (“to speak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Noun

fate (countable and uncountable, plural fates)

1. The presumed cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0105:

     Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

2. The effect, consequence, outcome, or inevitable events predetermined by this cause.
3. Destiny; often with a connotation of death, ruin, misfortune, etc.

   Accept your fate.

4. (mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Fate (one of the goddesses said to control the destiny of human beings).

Synonyms

• destiny
• doom
• fortune
• kismet
• lot
• necessity
• orlay
• predestination
• wyrd

Antonyms

• choice
• free will
• freedom

Derived terms

• fatal
• fatalism
• fatality
• tempt fate

Related terms

• amor fati (Amor fati)

Translations

that which predetermines events

• Albanian: gullmë (sq) f

  Arbëreshë: psorë m

• Arabic: قِسْمَة‎ f (qisma), مَصِير‎ m (maṣīr), قَدَر‎ (ar) m (qadar), تَقْدِير‎ (ar) m (taqdīr)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَصِير‎ m (maṣīr), قَدَر‎ m (gadar), نَصيب‎ m (naṣīb), قِسْمَة‎ f (gisma)

• Armenian: ճակատագիր (hy) (čakatagir), բախտ (hy) (baxt)
• Aromanian: soarti f, soarte f, lahno, mirã, nãfãcã, scriatã, tihi, ursitã
• Azerbaijani: qədər (az), bəxt (az), nəsib
• Bashkir: яҙмыш (yaðmïš)
• Basque: halabehar (eu)
• Belarusian: лёс m (ljos)
• Bengali: নসিব (nôsib)
• Bulgarian: съдба (bg) f (sǎdba), у́част (bg) f (účast), орис (bg) f (oris)
• Catalan: destí (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎢᏳᏓᎵᏍᏓᏁᏗ (iyudalisdanedi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 命運 (zh), 命运 (zh) (mìngyùn), 氣數 (zh), 气数 (zh) (qìshu), 宿命 (zh) (sùmìng), 運命 (zh), 运命 (zh) (yùnmìng)

• Czech: osud (cs) m, úděl m
• Dalmatian: suart
• Danish: skæbne
• Dutch: lot (nl) n, beschikking (nl) f
• Esperanto: fatalo
• Estonian: saatus
• Faroese: lagna f
• Finnish: kohtalo (fi)
• French: destin (fr) m, destinée (fr) f, sort (fr) m
• Friulian: fât, destìn, sorte
• Galician: destino m, sorte f
• Georgian: ბედი (bedi), ბედისწერა (bedisc̣era)
• German: Schicksal (de) n, Los (de) n, Geschick (de) n
• Greek: μοίρα (el) f (moíra), ειμαρμένη (el) f (eimarméni), πεπρωμένο (el) n (peproméno), τύχη (el) f (týchi)

  Ancient: μοῖρα f (moîra)

• Hebrew: מזל‎ (he) m (mazal)
• Hindi: क़िस्मत f (qismat), नसीब (hi) f (nasīb), तक़दीर f (taqdīr)
• Hungarian: sors (hu)
• Icelandic: örlög (is) n pl
• Istriot: suorto
• Italian: fato (it), sorte (it), destino (it) m
• Japanese: 運命 (ja) (うんめい, unmei), 宿命 (ja) (しゅくめい, shukumei)
• Kazakh: тағдыр (kk) (tağdır)
• Korean: 운명 (ko) (unmyeong) (運命), 숙명 (sungmyeong) (宿命)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چارەنووس‎ (çarenûs)

• Kyrgyz: тагдыр (ky) (tagdır)
• Latin: fatum n, sors (la), fatus m, pars (la) f

• Latvian: liktenis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: likimas (lt) m
• Macedonian: судбина f (sudbina)
• Malay: nasib, takdir
• Mizo: khúarèl, (literary) khúaléng
• Mongolian: хувь тавилан (huvʹ tavilan), хувь зохиол (huvʹ zohiol), хувь заяа (huvʹ zajaa), мөхөл (mn) (möhöl), үхэл (mn) (ühel), заяа тавилан (zajaa tavilan)
• Norman: destinné f, sort m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skjebne (no) m

  Nynorsk: lagnad (nn) m

• Occitan: sòrt
• Old English: wyrd f
• Pashto: قسمت‎ (ps) m (qәsmát)
• Persian: سرنوشت‎ (fa) (sarnevešt), تقدیر‎ (fa) (taqdir)
• Polish: los (pl) m, dola (pl) f, przeznaczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: destino (pt) m, fado (pt)
• Romanian: soartă (ro), destin (ro)
• Romansch: destin, sort
• Russian: судьба́ (ru) f (sudʹbá), до́ля (ru) f (dólja), у́часть (ru) f (účastʹ), рок (ru) m (rok), уде́л (ru) m (udél)
• Sanskrit: भाग्य (sa) (bhāgya), दैव (sa) (daiva), नियति (sa) (niyati), अदृष्ट (sa) (adr̥ṣṭa)
• Sardinian: solte, solte, solti, sorti
• Scots: weird
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: усуд m, судбина f, судба f

  Roman: usud (sh) m, sudbina (sh) f, sudba (sh) f

• Sicilian: fatu m, distinu (scn) m, sorti
• Slovak: osud m
• Slovene: usoda (sl) f
• Spanish: destino (es) m, azar (es) m
• Swahili: majaliwa (sw)
• Swedish: öde (sv) n
• Tagalog: tadhana
• Tajik: сарнавишт (tg) (sarnavišt), бахт (baxt), толеъ (toleʾ), насиба (nasiba), оянда (tg) (oyanda)
• Tatar: язмыш (tt) (yazmış)
• Thai: ดวง (duuang), โชคชะตา (th), พรหมลิขิต (prom-lí-kìt)
• Turkish: kader (tr), kısmet (tr), felek (tr)
• Turkmen: takdyr, täleý, nesibe, ykbal
• Ukrainian: до́ля (uk) f (dólja), льос m (lʹos)
• Uyghur: تەقدىر‎ (teqdir)
• Uzbek: taqdir (uz), nasiba (uz), qismat (uz)
• Venetian: sorte f, sort f, destìn
• Vietnamese: số phận (vi), số mạng
• Zazaki: qeder, qısmet

inevitable events

• Armenian: բախտ (hy) (baxt), ճակատագիր (hy) (čakatagir)
• Czech: osud (cs) m
• Dutch: lot (nl) n
• Finnish: kohtalo (fi)
• Galician: destino m, fado m
• Greek: τύχη (el) f (týchi), μοίρα (el) f (moíra), πεπρωμένο (el) n (peproméno)
• Hebrew: מזל‎ (he) m (mazal) [luck], גורל‎ (he) (goral)
• Indonesian: nasib (id)
• Italian: destino (it) m, fato (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چاره‌نووس‎ (çarenus)

• Latin: fatum n, sors (la)

• Macedonian: судбина f pl (sudbina)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skjebne (no) m

  Nynorsk: skjebne m

• Portuguese: sina (pt) f
• Russian: судьба́ (ru) f (sudʹbá), до́ля (ru) f (dólja), у́часть (ru) f (účastʹ), рок (ru) m (rok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: усуд m, судбина f

  Roman: usud (sh) m, sudbina (sh) f

• Swahili: majaliwa (sw)
• Venetian: sòrt (vec) f

destiny

• Arabic: قِسْمَة‎ f (qisma), مَصِير‎ m (maṣīr), قَدَر‎ (ar) m (qadar)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَصِير‎ m (maṣīr), قَدَر‎ m (gadar), نَصيب‎ m (naṣīb), قِسْمَة‎ f (gisma)

• Armenian: ճակատագիր (hy) (čakatagir)
• Bashkir: яҙмыш (yaðmïš)
• Basque: adur (eu), zori
• Belarusian: лёс m (ljos)
• Bulgarian: съдба (bg) f (sǎdba), у́част (bg) f (účast), орис (bg) f (oris)
• Catalan: destí (ca) m, planeta (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎢᏳᏓᎵᏍᏓᏁᏗ (iyudalisdanedi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 命運 (zh), 命运 (zh) (mìngyùn), 氣數 (zh), 气数 (zh) (qìshu), 宿命 (zh) (sùmìng), 運命 (zh), 运命 (zh) (yùnmìng)

• Czech: osud (cs) m
• Danish: skæbne c
• Dutch: lot (nl) n
• Esperanto: sorto (eo)
• Estonian: saatus
• Finnish: kohtalo (fi)
• French: destin (fr) m, destinée (fr) f
• Galician: destino m
• German: Schicksal (de) n
• Greek: μοίρα (el) f (moíra), πεπρωμένο (el) n (peproméno)

  Ancient: μοῖρα f (moîra)

• Hebrew: מזל‎ (he) m (mazal), גורל‎ (he) m (gorál)
• Hungarian: végzet (hu)
• Icelandic: örlög (is) n pl
• Italian: destino (it) m, sorte (it) f, fato (it) m
• Japanese: 運命 (ja) (うんめい, unmei), 宿命 (ja) (しゅくめい, shukumei)
• Korean: 숙명 (sungmyeong) (宿命), 운명 (ko) (unmyeong) (運命)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چاره‌نووس‎ (çarenus), قه‌زا و قه‌ده‌ر‎ (qeza u qeder)

• Latin: fatum n, sors (la), fatus m
• Macedonian: судбина f (sudbina), касмет m (kasmet), судбина f (sudbina)
• Nepali: भाग्य (bhāgya)
• Norman: destinné f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skjebne (no) m

  Nynorsk: skjebne m

• Old English: wyrd f
• Polish: los (pl) m, przeznaczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: fado (pt) m, destino (pt) m, sorte (pt) f
• Romanian: soartă (ro)
• Russian: судьба́ (ru) f (sudʹbá), до́ля (ru) f (dólja), у́часть (ru) f (účastʹ), рок (ru) m (rok), уде́л (ru) m (udél)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: судба f, судбина f

  Roman: sudba (sh) f, sudbina (sh) f

• Slovene: usoda (sl) f
• Spanish: destino (es) m, azar (es) m
• Swahili: majaliwa (sw)
• Swedish: öde (sv) n
• Thai: พรหมลิขิต (prom-lí-kìt), โชคชะตา (th)
• Tibetan: ལས (las)
• Ukrainian: до́ля (uk) f (dólja), льос m (lʹos)
• Venetian: sòrt (vec) f
• Volapük: fät (vo)
• Yiddish: גורל‎ m (goyrl)

goddess

• Finnish: kohtalotar

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vertrouwen (nl) n
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} sors (hu)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} fato, ^{(please verify)} destino, ^{(please verify)} sorte

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} sors (la)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} majaliwa (sw)

See also

• determinism
• indeterminism

Verb

fate (third-person singular simple present fates, present participle fating, simple past and past participle fated)

1. (transitive) To foreordain or predetermine, to make inevitable.

   The oracle's prediction fated Oedipus to kill his father; not all his striving could change what would occur.

   • 2011, James Al-Shamma, Sarah Ruhl: A Critical Study of the Plays (page 119)

     At the conclusion of this part, Eric, who plays Jesus and is now a soldier, captures Violet in the forest, fating her to a concentration camp.

Usage notes

• In some uses this may imply it causes the inevitable event.

Translations

to foreordain, predetermine

• Finnish: määrätä (fi)

Anagrams

• EFTA, TAFE, TFAE, feat, feat., feta

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfaː.t̪e], /ˈfate/
• Hyphenation: fà‧te

Verb

fate

1. second-person plural indicative present of fare
2. second-person plural imperative of fare

Noun

fate f

1. plural of fata

Anagrams

• afte

---

Latin

Participle

fate

1. vocative masculine singular of fatus

---

Volapük

Noun

fate

1. dative singular of fat

---

Yamdena

Alternative forms

• fat

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

fate

1. Alternative form of fat