Words at Play : Favorite Words From Foreign Languages
#10: Hazard
Language of Origin:
Arabic
About the Word:
Hazard dates to the time of the Crusaders and involves a game of chance.
According to the most likely theory, the original hazard ("al-zahr," in Arabic) was a die. Players would roll the dice and bet on the outcome.
English got the word from French. In English, hazard eventually came to name any chance, risk, or source of danger.
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