FROM THE ARCHIVESunday, September 20, 2026
serendipity
ser-en-DIP-i-tee/ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪti//noun
01 / MEANING
The knack of finding something valuable or delightful when you were looking for something else.
In a sentence.
- 01
By serendipity, they met again in a tiny bookshop.
- 02
The archive discovery was a piece of serendipity born from patient browsing.
Where it came from.
Horace Walpole coined serendipity in the eighteenth century after The Three Princes of Serendip, a tale whose heroes made discoveries by accident and insight. Serendip is an old name for Sri Lanka.
Explore the sourceWhy it’s interesting.
The original idea was more than plain luck: the princes had to notice and interpret what chance put in front of them.