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FRENCH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

happer.

to snatch by the mouth, to snap up (typically of animals)

6 characters2 syllables approx.Français language

Meaning & usage

verb/a.pe/
  1. to snatch by the mouth, to snap up (typically of animals)

    transitive
    On lui jeta un os, et il le happa.
  2. to grab, to seize

    figuratively · transitive
  3. to strike forcefully

    colloquial · transitive
    Il a été happé par une automobile et tué sur le coup.
  4. to catch off guard; take by surprise

    colloquial · transitive
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle French happer, haper, from Old French happer, haper (“to seize, snap up”), of obscure origin. Possibly onomatopoeic. Alternatively, of Germanic origin, either from Proto-West Germanic *happā (“hook, clasp”), or related to Middle Dutch happen (“to snap, bite”) (whence modern Dutch happen), Middle Dutch haperen (“to stammer, quarrel”) (whence modern Dutch haperen), German Low German happen (“to snatch something up, grab”), German Happen (“morsel, snack”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.