kismet

See also: Kismet and kısmet

English

WOTD – 23 November 2007

Alternative forms

• kismat, Kismet

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kısmet, “fate, destiny”) (Turkish kısmet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma, “division, lot, destiny”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪz.mɛt/, /ˈkɪs.mɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

kismet (usually uncountable, plural kismets)

1. Fate; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny.

   Synonyms: destiny, fate, fortune, lot

   • 1887, Rudyard Kipling, Bitters Neat:

     But these things are kismet, and we only find out all about them just when any knowledge is too late.

   • 1917, Percival Christopher Wren, “The Rafters”, in The Young Stagers:

     "Golly!" he cried. "I'm awfully sorry, Bo'sun, but you're It. You're luck's clean out to-day. What rotten Kismet you do have. The Lot fell on you all right, smack in the middle of your chest."

   • 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter III, in The Camel's Back:

     But at this point fickle Kismet, who for a day had played with him bitterly and sardonically, decided to reward him in full for the amusement he had afforded her. Kismet turned the tawny eyes of the snake-charmer to the camel. Kismet led her to lean toward the man beside her and say, "Who's that? That camel?"

   • 2019 June 8, Kitty Empire, “Madonna: Madame X review – a splendidly bizarre return to form”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Sexualised Catholicism, at the dawn of MTV, was Madonna’s first stroke of kismet.

Translations

fate; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny

• Arabic: قِسْمَة f (qisma)
• Armenian: (good fate) ղսմաթ (hy) (ġsmatʻ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 命運／命运 (zh) (mìngyùn)

• Czech: osud (cs) m
• Dutch: lotbestemming
• Finnish: kohtalo (fi)
• Georgian: ყისმათი (ka) (q̇ismati), ბედი (ka) (bedi), იღბალი (iɣbali), ბედისწერა (ka) (bedisc̣era)
• Hindi: क़िस्मत (qismat), किसमत (hi) f (kismat), तक़दीर f (taqdīr), तकदीर (hi) f (takdīr), किस्मत (hi) f (kismat), लेख (hi) m (lekh), कर्म (hi) m (karm), करम (hi) m (karam), नसीब (hi) m (nasīb), मुक़द्दर m (muqaddar), मुकद्दर (hi) m (mukaddar), भाग (hi) m (bhāg), भाग्य (hi) m (bhāgya)
• Hungarian: kiszmet
• Icelandic: örlög (is) n, sköp (is) n
• Ido: kismet (io)
• Indonesian: nasib (id), takdir (id)
• Macedonian: касмет m (kasmet), судбина f (sudbina), к’смет m (k’smet) (dialectal), крсмет m (krsmet) (dialectal)
• Persian: تقدیر (fa) (taqdir), قسمت (fa) (qesmat)
• Polish: los (pl) m, przeznaczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: fado (pt) m, destino (pt) m, sina (pt)
• Russian: кисме́т (ru) m (kismét), судьба́ (ru) f (sudʹbá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кисмет m, крсмет m, судбина f, удес m

  Roman: kismet (sh) m, krsmet (sh) m, sudbina (sh) f, udes (sh) m

• Sindhi: ڀاڳ m
• Slovak: kismet m
• Spanish: hado (es) m, destino (es) m, sino (es) m
• Thai: พรหมลิขิต (th) (prom-lí-kìt), ลิขิตสวรรค์, ลิขิตฟ้า
• Turkish: kısmet (tr)
• Urdu: قسمت (qismat)
• Uzbek: qismat (uz)

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• kr̀smet

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kismet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kǐsmet/
• Hyphenation: kis‧met

Noun

kìsmet m (Cyrillic spelling кѝсмет)

1. kismet
2. fate

Declension

Declension of kismet

	singular	plural
nominative	kismet	kismeti
genitive	kismeta	kismeta
dative	kismetu	kismetima
accusative	kismet	kismete
vocative	kismete	kismeti
locative	kismetom	kismetima
instrumental	kismetu	kismetima

Synonyms

• sudbina
• udes
• usud