weird

See also: WEIRD and weïrd

English

WOTD – 5 March 2007

Alternative forms

• weïrd, wierd (obsolete)
• weyard, weyward (obsolete, Shakespeare)

Etymology

From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd, wurd (“that which happens, fate, chance, fortune, destiny, Fate, the Fates, Providence, event, phenomenon, transaction, fact, deed”), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz (“fate, destiny”), 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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪəd/, /ˈwiːəd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwiɚd/, /ˈwɪɚd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)d

Adjective

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.
   • (Can we date this quote by Longfellow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act 1, scene 5]:

     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!'

   • (Can we date this quote by Victor Whitechurch and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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

• (having supernatural or preternatural power): eerie, spooky, uncanny
• (unusually strange in character or behaviour): odd, oddball, peculiar, strange, whacko; see also Thesaurus:insane
• (deviating from the normal): bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange
• (of or pertaining to the Fates): fateful

Derived terms

Derived terms

• weirden
• weirdly
• weirdness

• weirdo
• weird out
• weirdsome

Translations

having supernatural or preternatural power

• Dutch: bovennatuurlijk (nl)
• Finnish: yliluonnollinen (fi)
• German: geheimnisvoll (de), unheimlich (de), übernatürlich (de)

• Italian: anormale (it), surreale (it), paranormale, innaturale (it), fuori dall'ordinario
• Russian: потусторо́нний (ru) (potustorónnij), сверхъесте́ственный (ru) (sverxʺjestéstvennyj)
• Turkish: acaip (tr), esrarengiz (tr), tüyleri ürpertici

having an unusually strange character or behaviour

• Arabic: عَجِيب‎ (ʿajīb)

  Egyptian Arabic: عجيب‎ (ʕagīb)

• Bashkir: сәйер (säyer)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奇怪 (zh) (qíguài)

• Czech: divný (cs), zvláštní (cs)
• Danish: mærkelig, besynderlig, ejendommelig
• Dutch: vreemd (nl), raar (nl), bizar (nl), eigenaardig (nl)
• Esperanto: stranga
• Faroese: løgin m or f, løgið n
• Finnish: outo (fi)
• French: bizarre (fr), étrange (fr)
• Galician: estraño (gl), raro (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: seltsam (de), komisch (de), eigenartig (de), merkwürdig (de)
• Hebrew: מוזר‎ (he)

• Hunsrik: komisch
• Icelandic: skrýtinn (is) m, skrýtin f, skrýtið n
• Indonesian: aneh (id)
• Italian: strano (it), bizzarro (it)
• Japanese: 変 (ja) (へん, hen)
• Khmer: ចំឡែក (cɑmlaek)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: underlig (no), merkelig (no)

• Persian: عجیب‎ (fa) ('ajib)
• Polish: dziwny (pl) m
• Portuguese: estranho (pt)
• Romanian: straniu (ro), ciudat (ro)
• Russian: стра́нный (ru) (stránnyj), причу́дливый (ru) (pričúdlivyj), чудно́й (ru) (čudnój)
• Spanish: raro (es) m
• Turkish: acaip (tr), garip (tr), tuhaf (tr), yadırgatıcı (tr)
• Vietnamese: kì quái

deviating from the normal; bizarre

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: عجيب‎ (ʕagīb)

• Catalan: rar (ca), estrany (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奇怪 (zh) (qíguài)

• Czech: divný (cs), zvláštní (cs)
• Dutch: vreemd (nl), raar (nl), ongewoon (nl), bizar (nl), eigenaardig (nl), merkwaardig (nl)
• Faroese: løgin m
• Finnish: outo (fi), kummallinen (fi)
• French: bizarre (fr) m or f
• Galician: estraño (gl), raro (gl)
• Georgian: უცნაური (ucnauri)
• German: eigenartig (de), merkwürdig (de), sonderbar (de), seltsam (de), bizarr (de)
• Icelandic: kynlegur (is) m

• Italian: bizzarro (it), bislacco (it) m, strambo (it) m
• Japanese: 変 (ja) (へん, hen)
• Khmer: ជំលើយ (cumləəy)
• Persian: عجیب و غریب‎ (fa) (‘ajib-o-ğarib)
• Polish: dziwaczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: estranho (pt), bizarro (pt)
• Russian: стра́нный (ru) (stránnyj), причу́дливый (ru) (pričúdlivyj), чудно́й (ru) (čudnój)
• Slovak: divný m
• Spanish: raro (es) m
• Turkish: garip (tr), tuhaf (tr), acaip (tr)
• Vietnamese: kì quái

Noun

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

4. That which comes to pass; a fact.
5. (archaic, in the plural) The Fates (personified).

Synonyms

• (fate; destiny): kismet, lot, orlay, wyrd
• (luck): fortune, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
• (prediction): foretale, foretelling, prognostication; see also Thesaurus:prediction
• (spell or charm): enchantment, incantation, cantrip
• (fact):
• (The Fates): The Norns

Derived terms

• dree one’s weird
• weirdless

Verb

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.

Anagrams

• Dwire, wider, wierd, wired, wride, wried

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Scots

Alternative forms

• wierd

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wird/, [wiːrd]

Noun

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

• dree one's weird
• wanweird
• weirden
• weirdfu
• weirdie
• weirdless
• weirdly
• weirdman
• weirdrie
• weird sisteris
• weirdwife
• weirdy

 

Adjective

weird (comparative mair weird, superlative maist weird)

1. troublesome, mischievous, harmful

Verb

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