mazelachtig

Mazelachtig is a Dutch adjective meaning “lucky” or “fortuitous,” and it is used to describe events, outcomes, or people that appear to be determined by a stroke of luck rather than by careful planning. The sense can carry a light or humorous tone, suggesting that chances lined up in an unexpectedly favorable way. It often implies a fortunate turn of events that feels almost guided by luck, without asserting supernatural causation.

Etymology: The word is a loanword from Yiddish mazel, meaning “luck” or “fortune,” via Dutch usage. The suffix -achtig forms adjectives meaning “having the quality of” or “characteristic of,” yielding mazelachtig roughly as “having the quality of luck.” The form is part of a broader set of Yiddish-derived expressions that entered Dutch through contact with Jewish communities and popular culture.

Usage: Mazelachtig is informal and somewhat jocular. It is more common in spoken language, in humor, light fiction, or casual journalism, and is less common in formal or technical writing. It can appear in phrases such as mazelachtige samenloop van omstandigheden to describe a particularly fortunate coincidence, or in statements about events that felt unusually lucky.

See also: Yiddish loanwords in Dutch; mazel; mazel tov; luck-related terms in Dutch.