eerie

English

Alternative forms

• eery

Etymology

From Middle English eri (“fearful”), from Old English earg (“cowardly, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *argaz. Akin to Scots ergh, argh from the same Old English source. Doublet of argh.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪɹi/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪəɹi/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪəri
• Homophone: Erie

Adjective

eerie (comparative eerier, superlative eeriest)

1. Strange, weird, fear-inspiring.

   Synonyms: creepy, spooky

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

   • 1899 Feb, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 200:

     An eerie feeling came over me.

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

     She began to feel eerie.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

     'It is my business to read the hearts o' men,' said the other.
     'And who may ye be?' said Heriotside, growing eerie.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:strange

Derived terms

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

Translations

weird

• Bulgarian: странен (bg) (stranen), свръхестествен (bg) (svrǎhestestven)
• Catalan: misteriós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詭異 (zh), 怪異 (zh), 怪异 (zh) (guàiyì), 森森 (zh) (sēnsēn)

• Czech: tajuplný, podivný (cs), tajemný (cs), děsivý, strašidelný, nahánějící hrůzu
• Dutch: vreemd (nl)
• Finnish: outo (fi)
• French: étrange (fr), sinistre (fr)
• Galician: estrano, arrevasado, arcano (gl)
• German: unheimlich (de)
• Hungarian: furcsa (hu), titokzatos (hu), különös (hu), sejtelmes (hu), kísérteties (hu), baljós (hu), hátborzongató (hu)
• Irish: aerachtúil
• Italian: misterioso (it), strano (it), agghiacciante (it), spaventevole (it)

• Japanese: 不気味な (ja) (ぶきみな, bukimi-na)
• Maori: whakahaehae
• Norwegian: skummel, nifs
• Portuguese: estranho (pt), assustador (pt), esquisito (pt)
• Romanian: straniu (ro), superstițios (ro)
• Russian: стра́нный (ru) (stránnyj), жу́ткий (ru) (žútkij), злове́щий (ru) (zlovéščij), мра́чный (ru) (mráčnyj), сверхъесте́ственный (ru) (sverxʺjestéstvennyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: stran (sh), čudan (sh)
• Slovak: zvláštny, čudný, podozrivý (sk)
• Spanish: misterioso, extraño (es)
• Swedish: konstig (sv) c, skum (sv), mystisk (sv), kuslig (sv)
• Turkish: ürkütücü (tr), esrarengiz (tr)

frightened

• Bulgarian: внушаващ суеверен страх (vnušavašt sueveren strah)
• Catalan: espantós (ca)
• Czech: bázlivý (cs), postrašený, vystrašený, nesmělý
• Dutch: vreesachtig (nl), angstaanjagend (nl)
• Finnish: pelottava (fi)
• French: craintif (fr), timide (fr), peureux (fr)

• Galician: rabeco, broco, abraiento, estarrecedor (gl)
• German: unheimlich (de)
• Japanese: 恐ろしい (ja) (おそろしい, osoroshii), 物凄い (ものすごい, monosugoi)
• Norwegian: engstelig (no)
• Russian: жу́ткий (ru) (žútkij), пуга́ющий (ru) (pugájuščij), злове́щий (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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 어리다 (ko) (eorida), ^{(please verify)} 어리치다 (eorichida), ^{(please verify)} 야릇하다 (ko) (yareuthada), ^{(please verify)} 홀리다 (ko) (hollida)

• Slovak: strašidelný, zlovestný