say it: HAP-uhn
happen is a verb meaning "come to pass". It carries 5 recorded senses.
come to pass
“What is happening?”
“The meeting took place off without an incidence”
“Nothing occurred that seemed important”
chance to be or do something, without intention or causation
“I happen to have just what you need!”
come into being; become reality
“Her dream really materialized”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for happen come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.