misfortune

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mey-?

Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-der.

Proto-Germanic *missaz

Proto-Germanic *missa-

Proto-West Germanic *missa-

Old English mis-

Middle English mys-

English mis-

English fortune

English misfortune

From mis- + fortune.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɪsˈfɔɹt͡ʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪsˈfɔːtʃuːn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

misfortune (countable and uncountable, plural misfortunes)

1. (uncountable) Synonym of bad luck.

   The worst tour I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

   • 2012 July 15, Richard Williams, “Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track”, in in Guardian Unlimited‎^[1]:

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

   • 1876, Ulysses S. Grant, Annual Message:

     It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training.

2. (countable) An instance of bad luck, an undesirable event such as an accident.

   Synonyms: adversity, mishap, misadventure, disadventure (obsolete)

   Antonym: fortuity

   She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes.

   • 1839, Charles Robert Darwin, “Chapter X”, in The Voyage of the Beagle:

     The snowstorm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!

Derived terms

• misfortuned
• soldier of misfortune

Related terms

• misfortunate

Translations

an instance of bad luck, an undesirable event such as an accident

• Albanian: fatkeqësi (sq) f
• Arabic: مُصِيبَة f (muṣība), شَقْوَة f (šaqwa)
• Belarusian: няшча́сце n (njaščáscje), бяда́ (be) f (bjadá)
• Bulgarian: неща́стие (bg) n (neštástie)
• Catalan: infortuni m, desgràcia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不幸 (zh) (bùxìng), 禍 / 祸 (zh) (huò)

• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: ɓaya class 5/6

• Danish: ulykke (da) c
• Dutch: tegenslag (nl) m
• Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), vahinko (fi), tapaturma (fi)
• French: mésaventure (fr) f, malheur (fr) m
• German: Unglück (de) n, Unfall (de) m, Unheil (de) n, Mißgeschick (de) n, Missgeschick (de) n
• Greek: ατυχία (el) f (atychía), κακοτυχία (el) f (kakotychía), δυστυχία (el) (dystychía)

  Ancient Greek: συμφορά f (sumphorá), δυστύχημα n (dustúkhēma)

• Hindi: अभाग्य (hi) m (abhāgya)
• Hungarian: csapás (hu), szerencsétlenség (hu)
• Ingrian: onnettomus
• Irish: amaróid f, anachain (ga) f, tubaiste (ga) m
• Italian: disgrazia (it) f
• Japanese: 不幸 (ja) (ふこう, fukō), 災い (ja) (わざわい, wazawai)
• Korean: 불운(不運) (ko) (burun), 불행(不幸) (ko) (bulhaeng)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لێقەومان (lêqewman)

• Latin: calamitas f, clades f, aerumma f, adversa n pl
• Latvian: bēda f
• Malayalam: അനർത്ഥം (ml) (anaṟtthaṁ)
• Māori: maiki, maikiroa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ulykke (no) m or f

• Occitan: malparada, malabosena, malastrada
• Polish: nieszczęście (pl) n, niepowodzenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: desgraça (pt) f, infortúnio (pt) m, adversidade (pt) f, desventura (pt) f
• Romanian: pățeală (ro) f, pățanie (ro) f, nenorocire (ro) f
• Russian: несча́стье (ru) n (nesčástʹje), беда́ (ru) f (bedá), злоключе́ние (ru) n (zloključénije)
• Spanish: desgracia (es) f, infortunio (es) m, desventura (es) f, adversidad (es) f
• Swedish: olycka (sv) c
• Tagalog: kasawiang-palad
• Ukrainian: неща́стя (uk) n (neščástja), біда́ (uk) f (bidá)
• Urdu: نحوست f (nahūsat)
• Vietnamese: nạn (vi)
• Welsh: anffawd f, anap m or f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ჭირი (č̣iri)

Anagrams

• uniformest