English → Latin
“befall” in Latin
accidōto fall down, upon, at or near; descend; to happen (to), take place, occur, befallēveniōto happen, occur; to come forth; to happen to, befall (someone)contingōto touch on all sides, take hold of, come into contact with; to reach (by moving), attain to, come to, arrive at, meet wobveniōto come before or in the way of, meet, come face-to-face; to come or fall to someone, fall to the lot of; to happen, ariobtingōto touch, strike; to happen, befall, occur
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
befall
accidere; evenire; contingere; obvenire; obtingere (accidere and evenire denote both favorable and unfavorable occurrences; but the accidentia, unexpected, overtaking us by surprise; the evenientia, expected, foreseen: contingere, obvenire, obtingere, are generally confined to fortunate occurrences; the accidentia are fortuitous, the evenientia result from foregoing acts or circumstances; the contingentia are the favors of fortune; theobtingentia and obvenientia are what falls to one’s lot, Döderlein). To bear whatever may befall, quemcunque sors tulerit casum subire.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for befall?
- The usual Latin words for “befall” are accidō, ēveniō, contingō; also obveniō, obtingō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.