bizarre

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bizarre (“odd, peculiar, bizarre, formerly headlong, angry”). Either from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Basque bizar, "a beard" (the notion being that bearded Spanish soldiers made a strange impression on the French) or from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Italian bizzarro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈzɑː(ɹ)/, /bəˈzɑː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈzɑɹ/, /bəˈzɑɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophone: bazaar

Adjective

bizarre (comparative more bizarre, superlative most bizarre)

1. strangely unconventional in style or appearance.
   • 2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     West Brom enjoyed more possession as the half progressed and were handed a penalty of their own in the 21st minute in bizarre circumstances.

   • 2019 September 6, Jordan Weissman, “How Not to Fight Anti-Semitism”, in Slate‎^[2]:

     Unfortunately, she has used the attack as a launch pad for a bizarre and undercooked exercise in rhetorical bothsidesism, in which she argues that American Jews should be just as worried about college students who overzealously criticize Israel as they are about the aspiring Einsatzgruppen who shoot up shuls.

Usage notes

The more and most forms are the most common comparative and superlative forms. While bizarrest is encountered not infrequently and is acceptable in most situations, bizarrer is rare and non-standard.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:strange

Translations

strangely unconventional

• Bulgarian: странен (bg) (stranen), особен (bg) (osoben), чудат (bg) (čudat)
• Catalan: estrany (ca), estrafolari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奇怪 (zh) (qíguài), 不可思議／不可思议 (zh) (bùkěsīyì), 不可思议 (zh) (bùkěsīyì)

• Czech: bizarní (cs) m
• Danish: bizar (da)
• Dutch: bizar (nl)
• Finnish: outo (fi), eriskummallinen (fi), omituinen (fi)
• French: bizarre (fr)
• Galician: estrano m, estraio m, rechamante m, zarapallón (gl) m, desavieso m
• German: bizarr (de), komisch (de), seltsam (de)
• Hebrew: ביזארי (he) (bizári), מוזר (he) (muzár)
• Hungarian: bizarr (hu)
• Ido: bizara (io)
• Indonesian: aneh (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingua: bizarre
• Interlingue:
• Italian: bizzarro (it) m, bizzarra (it) f
• Japanese: 奇妙 (ja) (きみょう, kimyō)
• Limburgish: biezar
• Maori: haraki, pakepakehā, pākehakeha
• Persian: عجیب و غریب (fa) ('ajib o ğarib), طرفه (fa) (torfe)
• Polish: dziwny (pl) m, cudaczny m
• Portuguese: bizarro (pt), estranho (pt)
• Romanian: bizar (ro)
• Russian: неесте́ственный (ru) (nejestéstvennyj), ненорма́льный (ru) (nenormálʹnyj), причу́дливый (ru) (pričúdlivyj), стра́нный (ru) (stránnyj), эксцентри́чный (ru) (ekscentríčnyj), чудно́й (ru) (čudnój)
• Serbo-Croatian: bȉzāran (sh)
• Spanish: raro (es) m, extraño (es) m, estrafalario (es) m
• Swedish: bizarr (sv)
• Turkish: tuhaf (tr), acayip (tr), garip (tr)
• Vietnamese: kỳ quái (vi)

Further reading

• “bizarre”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “bizarre”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Brazier, brazier

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Danish

Adjective

bizarre

1. definite of bizar
2. plural of bizar

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

bizarre

1. (deprecated template usage) Inflected form of bizar

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Italian bizzarro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.zaʁ/

• audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʁ

Adjective

bizarre (plural bizarres)

1. bizarre, odd

   Comme c'est bizarre !

2. peculiar, quaint

Synonyms

• baroque
• étrange
• original
• singulier

Related terms

• bizarrement
• bizarrerie

Further reading

• “bizarre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• barriez

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

bizarre

1. inflection of bizarr:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

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Interlingua

Adjective

bizarre (comparative plus bizarre, superlative le plus bizarre)

1. bizarre