serendipity

Dictionary

serendipity |ˌserənˈdipitē|

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities.

DERIVATIVES serendipitous |-ˈdipitəs| adjective serendipitously adverb ORIGIN 1754:

coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”