hap
part of speech
noun (hap, haps — old-fashioned); verb (hap, haps, happed, happing — old)
meaning for a pupil
1) (old) Luck or chance, especially something that happens by chance. tree →
2) (old) An event that happens; «haps» means things that happen. tree →
3) (Scotland, northern England, dialect) To wrap up warmly; a «hap» is a warm shawl or blanket. tree →
sense in the lessons
In modern English «hap» is rarely used alone, but it is the root of common words: happen, happy, perhaps, mishap, haphazard, hapless. In old stories and the Bible-era English it means luck. In slang, «what's the haps?» (US) means «what's happening?». Phrases: by hap, what's the haps.
examples
- In old stories, «by hap» means «by chance». tree →
- «Happen» and «perhaps» both come from «hap». tree →
- A «mishap» is a small accident, a bit of bad hap. tree →
- Granny in Shetland happed the baby in a woolly shawl. tree →
- «What's the haps?» my cousin from California asked. tree →
- "What better hap could I look for, fool that I am!" tree →
note
Old and dialect word; do not use in school essays except when explaining word roots. Word family: happen, happy, perhaps, mishap, haphazard (by chance, without a plan), hapless (unlucky). Not to be confused with «hip» or «hop».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «hap» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.