When you encounter something by chance that seems like it was meant to be, then it could bekismet, your destiny. The wordkismetcomes from the Arabic word ḳismat, meaning “division, portion, lot.” You can think ofkismetas your lot in life, or your fate.

Lovers whose relationship is doomed to fail are said to be “star–crossed” (frustrated by thestars), because those who believe in astrology claim that thestarscontrol human destiny. William Shakespeare used the phrase to describe the lovers in Romeo and Juliet.

“Star-crossed” or “star-crossed lovers” is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces. The term encompasses other meanings, but originally means the pairing is being “thwarted by a malign star” or that the stars are working against the relationship.^[1]Astrological in origin, the…