Fate
Etymology
From Latin "fatum" (that which has been spoken), the past participle of "fari" (to speak). Fate was originally the divine utterance — what the gods had pronounced — so the future was fixed because it had already been spoken aloud by a higher power.
noun · /fayt/
The supposed force that predetermines how events will unfold, beyond human control.
What it names
The idea of a fixed future — an outcome already settled — which frames how a culture thinks about choice and responsibility.
Example
He called the missed flight fate; she called it a broken alarm clock.
Related idea
Fate stresses an outcome fixed regardless of what one does; destiny usually carries a warmer sense of a purpose one is called to fulfill — fate befalls you, destiny beckons you.