fatidic

adjective

fa·​tid·​ic fā-ˈti-dik 

fə-

variants or fatidical

fā-ˈti-di-kəl 

fə-

: of or relating to prophecy

Did you know?

As you might guess, "fatidic" is a relative of the word fate. The Latin word for fate is "fatum," which literally means "what has been spoken." "Fatum," in turn, comes from fari, meaning "to speak." In the eyes of the ancients, your fate was out of your hands - what happened was up to gods and demigods. Predicting your fate was a job for oracles and prophets. "Fatidic" is "fatum" combined with dicere, meaning "to say." That makes "fatidic" a relative of the word predict as well; the "-dict" of "predict" also comes from Latin dicere.

Word History

Etymology

Latin fatidicus, from fatum fate + dicere to say — more at diction

First Known Use

1607, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!