Link Centre Dictionary

luck

UK/lʌk/ US/lɐk/ very common informal

noun

1.

your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)

  • “whatever my fortune may be”
  • “deserved a better fate”
  • “has a happy lot”
  • “the luck of the Irish”
  • “a victim of circumstances”
  • “success that was her portion”
Synonyms
2.

an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another

  • “bad luck caused his downfall”
  • “we ran into each other by pure chance”
Synonyms
3.

an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome

  • “it was my good luck to be there”
  • “they say luck is a lady”
  • “it was as if fortune guided his hand”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English luk, lukke, from Middle Dutch luc, geluc, gelucke (“good luck, fortune”) or Middle Low German lücke, gelücke (“lot, fortune, fate, luck”), of obscure origin; perhaps ultimately related to German Lücke (“gap, opening”) in the sense of "space or opportunity", hence "chance". Cognate with West Frisian gelok (“luck”), Saterland Frisian Gluk (“luck”), Dutch luk, geluk (“luck, happiness”), Dutch Low Saxon luk (“luck”), German Low German and German Glück (“luck, good fortune, happiness”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lykke (“luck, happiness”), Norwegian Nynorsk lukke (“luck, happiness”), Swedish lycka (“luck, happiness”), Icelandic lukka (“happiness”). According to the OED, it may be related to lock. A loanword into English in the 15th century (probably as a gambling term), Middle Dutch luc, gelucke has parallels with Middle High German lücke, gelücke ("luck, skill, chance, profession, livelihood"; whence Modern German Glück). The word occurs only from the 12th century, apparently first in Rhine Frankish. Perhaps from a Frankish *galukki, derived from Proto-Germanic *lukjǭ (“opening”). The word enters standard Middle High German during the 13th century, and spreads t...

Phrases

  • as luck may have it terms derived from luck (noun)
  • as luck would have it terms derived from luck (noun)
  • bad luck terms derived from luck (noun)
  • be in luck terms derived from luck (noun)
  • beginner's luck terms derived from luck (noun)
  • best of British luck terms derived from luck (noun)
  • best of luck terms derived from luck (noun)
  • better luck next time terms derived from luck (noun)

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.