unhap means ill luck; misfortune. It carries an Arena rating of 1615, earned across 16 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, unhap ranks #1,523 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,025 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #5,370 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #6,426 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “unhap” is a great word
A state of being devoid of good fortune. From Middle English *unhap* or *onhap*, from the prefix *un-* (denoting lack of) + *hap* ("fortune, chance"), with earliest attestation as a noun circa 1225 in the *Ancrene Riwle*. Unlike "misfortune," which describes a discrete adverse event, or "adversity," which denotes a prolonged hardship, unhap is the settled condition of lucklessness. It is the sky that never breaks for sun, the die that always shows the losing face, and the quiet, persistent certainty that the favorable turn will not come—the colorless background against which every other sorrow is drawn.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English unhap, onhap, equivalent to un- (“lack of”) + hap (“fortune”).
noun
- Ill luck; misfortune.e.g.“the cause of her unhap” — a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: [
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.