voorkómen

Voorkomen is a Dutch term that can function as a verb in two main senses and as a noun. In standard spelling it is written zonder diacritics; diacritical marks such as ó are sometimes used in dictionaries to indicate pronunciation but are not required in ordinary text.

As a verb meaning to prevent, voorkómen is used to describe actions intended to stop something undesirable from happening. It is common in safety, health, and risk-management contexts. A typical construction is om te voorkomen, as in De maatregelen zijn bedoeld om ziekte te voorkomen. The sense focuses on preemptive action to stop an event or outcome.

As a verb meaning to occur or to happen, voorkómen can describe the appearance or occurrence of something. It is used in phrases like Dit soort problemen komt vaak voor, or Er komt hier vaak voor. In perfect tenses the related past participle is voorgemoren or voorgemaakt depending on regional variation, but in everyday usage you will hear, for example, Dit probleem is eerder voorgekomen to indicate that something has occurred previously.

As a noun, het voorkomen refers to the occurrence or appearance of something, and in epidemiological or statistical contexts it can denote the incidence or likelihood of an event. For example, het voorkomen van ziekte of het voorkomen van fouten describes the presence or incidence of those phenomena.

Etymology and related terms: voorkómen derives from voor- (before, in advance) and komen (to come). Related concepts include preventie (prevention) and incidentie/incident (incidence or occurrence).