eerie

English

Alternative forms

• eery

Etymology

From Middle English eri (“fearful”), from Old English earg (“cowardly, fearful”). Akin to Scots ergh, argh from the same Old English source.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɪəri/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɪɹi/

  Rhymes: -ɪəri

Adjective

eerie (comparative eerier, superlative eeriest)

1. strange, weird, fear-inspiring.

   The eerie sounds seemed to come from the graveyard after midnight.

2. (Scotland) fearful, timid.
   • 1883, George MacDonald, Donal Grant

     She began to feel eerie.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:strange
• creepy, spooky

Derived terms

• eerily (adverb)
• eeriness (noun)
• eerisome

Translations

weird

• Bulgarian: странен (bg) (stranen), внушаващ суеверен страх (bg) (vnušavašt sueveren strah)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怪異 (cmn), 怪异 (cmn) (guàiyì), 森森 (cmn) (sēnsēn)

• Dutch: vreemd (nl)
• Finnish: outo (fi)
• French: étrange (fr) m and f, sinistre (fr)
• Italian: misterioso (it) m, soprannaturale (it)
• Japanese: 不気味な (ja) (ぶきみな, bukimi-na)
• Norwegian: skummel (no), nifs (no)

• Portuguese: estranho (pt), assustador (pt), esquisito (pt)
• Romanian: straniu (ro), superstițios (ro)
• Russian: странный (ru) (stránnyj), жуткий (ru) (žutkij), зловещий (ru) (zloveščij), мрачный (ru) (mračnyj), сверхъестественный (ru) (sverxʺjestestvennyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: stran (sh), čudan (sh)
• Spanish: misterioso (es), extraño (es)
• Swedish: konstig (sv) c, skum (sv), mystisk (sv), kuslig (sv)
• Turkish: ürkütücü (tr), esrarengiz (tr)

fearful

• Dutch: vreesachtig (nl), angstaanjagend (nl)
• Finnish: pelottava (fi)
• German: unheimlich (de)
• Japanese: 恐ろしい (ja) (おそろしい, osoroshii), 物凄い (ja) (ものすごい, monosugoi)

• Norwegian: engstelig (no)
• Russian: жуткий (ru) (žútkij), пугающий (ru) (pugájuščij), зловещий (ru) (zlovéščij) (intensification)
• Swedish: kuslig (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: 어리다 (eorida), 어리치다 (eorichida), 야릇하다 (yareuthada), 홀리다 (hollida)