betide

Meaning

1. Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
2. Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.

Synonyms

happen

bechance

befall

hap

occur

chance

🎲

pass

come about

go on

fall out

fortune

transpire

supervene

be

turn up

come

come across

cross paths

destiny

fall

fortuity

give

hurt

luck

🍀

random

smart

Hyphenated as

be‧tide

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɪˈtaɪd/

Etymology

From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately either from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”) or *dī- (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).