Meaning

noun a minor short-term fight

noun a casual or unexpected convergence

noun a casual meeting with a person or thing

originFrom Middle English encountren, from Anglo-Norman encountrer, Old French encontrer (“to confront”), from encontre (“against, counter to”), from Late Latin incontrā (“in front of”) itself from Latin in (“in”) + contrā (“against”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0