hap
n. C / U C2 Proficiency US //ˈhæp// UK //hˈæp// hap
n. a person's luck or fate, especially when it happens by chance. It is an old-fashioned word for how things turn out in life.
n. one's fortune, luck, or lot in life. Primarily literary or archaic in modern usage, though it persists in certain regional dialects to describe a chance occurrence.
By some strange hap, we met again in the city.
Whether by good hap or careful planning, the harvest was finished before the first frost arrived.
The poet muses on the cruel hap of the protagonist, whose downfall is precipitated not by a moral failing but by a series of unfortunate coincidences beyond his control.
Usage
In modern English, the word is almost exclusively found in literary contexts or as the root of 'happen' and 'mishap'.