fate

将“fate”与“fat”的谐音联系起来，想象一个“fat”的“命运”如此紧密相连，就像体重和人生的轨迹一样，不可预测且深远。这样，每当你想到“fat”，就能联想到“fate”。

fate 命运

来自PIE*bha, 说，预言，词源同phone, fable. 用于指神的预言，预测命运。

fate

fate: [14] Etymologically, fate is ‘that which is spoken’ – that is, by the gods. Like so many other English words, from fable to profess, it goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *bha- ‘speak’. Its immediate source was Italian fato, a descendant of Latin fātum, which was formed from the past participle of the verb fārī ‘speak’.

That which the gods say determines the destiny of human beings, and so Latin fātum came to signify ‘what is preordained, destiny’. It was used in the plural fāta to personify the Fates, the three goddesses who preside over human destiny – their direct etymological descendants in English have been diminished to fairies. The derivative fatal [14] comes from Latin fatālis, perhaps via Old French fatal.
=> confess, fable, fairy, profess

fate (n.)

late 14c., "one's lot or destiny; predetermined course of life;" also "one's guiding spirit," from Old French fateand directly from Latin fata (source also of Spanish hado, Portuguese fado, Italian fato), neuter plural of fatum "prophetic declaration of what must be, oracle, prediction," thus the Latin word's usual sense, "that which is ordained, destiny, fate," literally "thing spoken (by the gods)," from neuter past participle of fari "to speak," from PIE *bha- (2) "speak" (see fame (n.)).

From early 15c. as "power that rules destinies, agency which predetermines events; supernatural predetermination;" also "destiny personified." Meaning "that which must be" is from 1660s; sense of "final event" is from 1768. The Latin sense evolution is from "sentence of the Gods" (Greek theosphaton) to "lot, portion" (Greek moira, personified as a goddess in Homer). The sense "one of the three goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who determined the course of a human life" is in English by 1580s. Often in a bad sense in Latin: "bad luck, ill fortune; mishap, ruin; a pest or plague." The native word in English was wyrd (see weird).

fate (v.)

"to preordain as if by fate; to be destined by fate," c. 1600, from fate (n.). Earlier it meant "to destroy" (c. 1400). Related: Fated; fating.

1. They held his fate in the palms of their ancient hands.

他们这些老人将他的命运掌握在手心里。

2. The Casino, where she had often danced, had suffered a similar fate.

她经常跳舞的赌场遭遇了相似的命运。

3. By a curious twist of fate, cricket was also my favourite sport.

让人感到惊奇的是，板球碰巧也是我最喜欢的运动。

4. Custer was an idiot and a brute and he deserved his fate.

卡斯特是个白痴，是个残暴的家伙，他罪有应得。

5. What we think of as fate is just two neuroses knowing that they are a perfect match.

所谓命运，只不过是两个疯子认为他们自己是天造一对，地设一双。

【luck, lot, destiny, fortune, doom, fate】
这组词都有“命运”的意思，其区别是：
luck: 普通日常用词，指好的或坏的运气，尤多指好运气，有时也指成功或愉快的结局。
lot: 多指偶然的运气或终身遭受的不幸命运。
destiny: 普通用词，侧重预先注定的命运，对未来命运的美好憧憬。
fortune: 普通用词，指由机会或运气来决定的一种命运，如暗示一种比fate好的运气或一种愉快的未来。
doom: 指最终的，常常是灾难性或毁灭性的命运，隐含不可避免的意味。
fate: 较庄严用词，多指不幸的命运，暗示不可避免，令人畏惧和人的意志无法改变，宿命论色彩较浓。