weird

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See also: WEIRD and weïrd

English[edit]

WOTD – 5 March 2007

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”). Doublet of wyrd. More at worth.

Weird was extinct by the 16th century in English. It survived in Scots, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters, reintroducing it to English. The senses "abnormal", "strange" etc. arose via reinterpretation of Weird Sisters and date from after this reintroduction.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈwɪəd/, /ˈwiːəd/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈwiɚd/, /ˈwɪɚd/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Audio (AU)
    		(file)
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(r)d

Adjective[edit]

weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)

  1. Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
    There are lots of weird people in this place.
  2. Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
    It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.
  3. (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.
    (Can we find and add a quotation to this entry?)
  4. (archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
  5. (archaic) Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
    • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, OCLC 12526426, (please specify either |part=I or II):
      Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:
      Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, 'Thane of Cawdor'; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!'
    • 1912, Victor Whitechurch, Thrilling Stories of the Railway
      Naphtha lamps shed a weird light over a busy scene, for the work was being continued night and day. A score or so of sturdy navvies were shovelling and picking along the track.
  6. (archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.
    There was a weird light shining above the hill.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

weird (plural weirds)

  1. (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
    • 1912, Medea, Heinemenn, translation of original by Euripides, published 1946, page 361:
      In the weird of death shall the hapless be whelmed, and from Doom’s dark prison / Shall she steal forth never again.
  2. A prediction.
  3. (obsolete, Scotland) A spell or charm.
    • 1813, Walter Scott, The Bridal of Triermain
      Thou shalt bear thy penance lone
      In the Valley of Saint John,
      And this weird shall overtake thee
  4. That which comes to pass; a fact.
  5. (archaic, in the plural) The Fates (personified).

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirding, simple past and past participle weirded)

  1. (transitive) To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
  2. (transitive) To warn solemnly; adjure.

Adverb[edit]

weird (not comparable)

  1. (nonstandard) In a strange manner. [from 1970s]
    • 1972, Edwin Shrake, Strange Peaches: A Novel‎[1]:
      I waltzed into that club just as straight as a goose and I kept tripping over things and people were looking at me weird.
    • 1974, Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible: Making Sense Out of Revelation‎[2]:
      Man, you're talking weird!

Usage notes[edit]

As an adverb, weird is only used to modify verbs, and is always positioned after the verb it modifies. Unlike weirdly it cannot modify an adjective (as in "She was weirdly generous.") or an entire sentence (as in "Weirdly, no-one spoke up.").

Synonyms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English weird.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

weird (plural weirds)

  1. (Quebec, Louisiana, informal) weird, bizarre.

Scots[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English wyrd (“fate, destiny”), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

weird (plural weirds)

  1. fate, fortune, destiny, one's own particular fate or appointed lot
  2. event destined to happen, a god's decree, omen, prophecy, prediction
  3. wizard, warlock, one having deep or supernatural skill or knowledge

Derived terms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

weird (comparative mair weird, superlative maist weird)

  1. troublesome, mischievous, harmful

Verb[edit]

weird (third-person singular present weirds, present participle weirdin, past weirdit, past participle weirdit)

  1. to ordain by fate, destine, assign a specific fate or fortune to, allot
  2. to imprecate, invoke
  3. to prophesy, prognosticate the fate of, warn ominously
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