English → Latin
“chance” in Latin
cāsusa fall, downwards movement; accident, chance; an event, happening, occurrenceforsluck, chancefortūnafortune, luck; good fortune; misfortune (depending on context); destiny, fatefortisstrong, powerful; firm, resolute, steadfast, stout; courageous, bravecadōto fall, to fall out; to fall in battle, die, be slain, fall so as to be unable to rise; to be frustrated, fail, to be ofortuītushappening by chance, accidental, random, fortuitoustemereby chance, by accident, at random; without design, intent, or purpose; casually, fortuitously, rashly, heedlessly, thougāleaa die; any game involving dice; the game of chance
The English word chance itself goes back to Latin cadō, through *cadentia.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
chance
casus (chance; what happens unexpectedly as the result of unknown causes: συμφορά): fors (τύχη: chance as a sort of quasi-mythological being, sporting with men and their affairs, and baffling all human calculations, etc.: opposed to ratio): fortuna (fortunae not blind chance, like fors, but as taking a part in human affairs from personal favor or disaffection). Blind chance, fors: a happy or lucky chance, fors fortuna: by a lucky chance, forte fortuna: anything is the result of blind chance, aliquid temere fit caeco casu: this is no result of mere chance, id evenit non temere nec casu: all is the work of chance, omnia casu fiunt or facta sunt: it is all chance, casus est in re (i. e., how it will turn out): to trust to chance, rem in casum ancipitis fortunae committere: to leave it to chance, casum potius quam consilium sequi. It happened by chance, that, forte evenit, ut; casu accidit, ut; forte ita incidit, ut, etc.
A chance; event whose cause is unknown, casus (as the result of accident): eventus (issue, event, as being in conformity with, or opposed to, anybody’s wish). To be subject to many chances, sub casibus mulds esse.
BY CHANCE, forte: casu: fortuito: fortuitu [SYN. under ACCIDENT]: si forte. (The words are found in this connection and order), casu et fortuito or fortuitu: temere (marks anything as not the result of purpose or design). To make mention of anything by chance, in mentionem alicujus rei incidere. Vid: Forte is the regular word after si, sin, nisi (ni), ne, num, and ecquid, in the sense of “perchance.”
GAME OF CHANCE, alea.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for chance?
- The usual Latin words for “chance” are cāsus, fors, fortūna; also fortis, cadō, fortuītus. 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.