Fluky

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked by an instance that is both surprising and unlikely to happen
2. Relating to outcomes that arise from chance rather than through consistent effort or planning
3. Happening due to unexpected fortune or coincidence rather than intention

Etymology: "Fluky" is built from "fluke," and the noun "fluke" has a surprisingly unrelated origin. Its earliest English sense (from the 1600s, possibly earlier) was the flat, triangular blade or tip of an anchor, the part that digs into the seabed. Where that sense comes from is uncertain, but the anchor meaning came first, and the word's other senses grew out of it. The leap to "lucky chance" is usually explained through games and sport. A fluke was a lucky shot, especially in billiards or bowls, where a ball might strike another by accident and still count. The idea is that a fluke is something that worked out without skill. In the 1800s the word also picked up its sense of a stroke of good luck and, in the same period, the meaning of a freakish or improbable event. "Fluky" is the adjective form of that sense, meaning marked by such an event. The suffix "-y" simply turns the noun into a description, so a fluky result is one that depends on a lucky accident rather than skill or pattern.

Synonyms: accidental, chance

Antonyms: intentional, planned