From Latin 'per' (through) + Old Norse 'happ' (luck, chance) in plural — literally 'by chances.' Related to 'happy,' 'happen,' and 'hapless.'
Used to express uncertainty or possibility; maybe.
A compound of per (by, through, by means of), from Latin per (through, by means of), from PIE *per- (forward, through, before) + haps (chances, fortunes), the plural of hap (luck, fortune, chance event), from Old Norse happ (good luck, fortune). So perhaps literally means by chances or through luck — an acknowledgment that what follows is contingent, not certain. The word hap gives English happy (originally favored by fortune, lucky), happen (to come about by chance), hapless (unlucky, without good fortune), and haphazard (
The word 'perhaps' is a hybrid: half Latin ('per'), half Norse ('haps'). It literally means 'by chances.' The same Norse root 'happ' (luck) is hiding inside 'happy' — which originally didn't mean joyful but rather 'lucky, fortunate.' To be happy was to be favored by hap (chance). The sense shift from 'lucky' to 'pleased' happened gradually in the 14th-15th centuries.
Words closest in meaning, ranked by similarity