Past tense of occur, meaning to happen or take place. It can also mean to come to mind or be thought of.
From Latin 'occurrere', composed of 'ob-' (toward) and 'currere' (to run). Originally meant 'to run toward' or 'to meet', but evolved to mean 'to happen' or 'to present itself' by the 16th century.
This is one of the most commonly misspelled words in English because people often forget it has double 'c' and double 'r'. A helpful mnemonic is that things that occur 'run toward' you twice - hence the double letters representing the double running motion from its Latin roots.
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