This is the 505th most frequent Spanish word.
ocurrió
"Occurred" or "happened."
Here, 'ocurrió' is used to denote that an event took place, specifying the moment it happened.
El accidente ocurrió ayer por la tarde.
The accident occurred yesterday afternoon.
In this sentence, 'ocurrió' signifies that an idea suddenly came to someone's mind.
Me ocurrió una idea para mejorar el proyecto.
An idea occurred to me to improve the project.
Here, 'ocurrió' conveys the notion of a realization or thought unexpectedly entering the speaker's awareness.