weird
[ weerd ]
/ wɪərd /
adjective, weird·er, weird·est.
involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny: a weird sound; weird lights.
fantastic; bizarre: a weird getup.
Archaic. concerned with or controlling fate or destiny.
noun Chiefly Scot.
fate; destiny.
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Origin of weird
before 900; (noun) Middle English (northern form of wird), Old English wyrd; akin to worth2; (adj.) Middle English, orig. attributive noun in phrase werde sisters the Fates (popularized as appellation of the witches in Macbeth)
SYNONYMS FOR weird
1 unnatural, preternatural. weird, eerie, unearthly, uncanny refer to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law. Weird refers to that which is suggestive of the fateful intervention of supernatural influences in human affairs: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle. Eerie refers to that which, by suggesting the ghostly, makes one's flesh creep: an eerie moaning from a deserted house. Unearthly refers to that which seems by its nature to belong to another world: an unearthly light that preceded the storm. Uncanny refers to that which is mysterious because of its apparent defiance of the laws established by experience: an uncanny ability to recall numbers.
Related formsweird·ly, adverbweird·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for weirdness
British Dictionary definitions for weirdness
weird
/ (wɪəd) /
adjective
suggestive of or relating to the supernatural; eerie
strange or bizarre
archaic of or relating to fate or the Fates
noun
archaic, mainly Scot
- fate or destiny
- one of the Fates
dree one's weird Scot See dree
verb
(tr) Scot to destine or ordain by fate; predict
See also weird out
Derived Formsweirdly, adverbweirdness, noun
Word Origin for weird
Old English (ge) wyrd destiny; related to weorthan to become, Old Norse urthr bane, Old Saxon wurd; see worth ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for weirdness
weird
Old English wyrd (n.) "fate, destiny," literally "that which comes," from Proto-Germanic *wurthis (cf. Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt "fate," Old Norse urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," (cf. German werden, Old English weorðan "to become"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," cf. phrase turn into "become."
The modern sense of weird developed from Middle English use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Germanic mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth," which led to the adjectival meaning "odd-looking, uncanny," first recorded 1815.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper