weird
English
[edit]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.
Obsolete by the 16th century in English, but reintroduced from Middle Scots weird, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters (originally Weyward Sisters, the Three Witches), 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): /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/, /ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈwiɚd/, /ˈwɪɚd/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) Audio (UK): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)d
Adjective
[edit]weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)
- Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
- Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
- Synonyms: bizarre, odd, out of the ordinary, strange, (dialectal or archaic) fremd, Thesaurus:strange
- It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.
- Relating to weird fiction ("a macabre subgenre of speculative fiction").
- a weird story
- 1978, Jeffrey Helterman, Richard Layman, editors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 2: American Novelists Since World War II, Detroit, M.A.: Gale Research Company, →ISBN, page 62, column 1:
- In his introduction to the 1955 volume, [Ray] Bradbury singles out these stories as oddities in his canon — he wrote this kind of tale before his twenty-sixth birthday (1946), and rarely since. They are pure fantasy of the "weird" sort and include some of Bradbury's most striking pieces: "The Scythe" (1943), "The Lake" (1944), "The Jar" (1944), "Skeleton" (1945), and "The Small Assassin" (1946)
- (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.
- Synonym: fateful
- (Can we find and add a quotation to this entry?)
- (archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
- (archaic) Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 134, column 1:
- Whiles I ſtood rapt in the wonder of it, came Miſſiues from the King, who all-hail'd me Thane of Cawdor, by which Title before, these weyward Sisters saluted me, and referr'd me to the comming on of time, with haile, King that ſhalt be.
- 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I, page 134:
- Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
- It may be in that dark hour at the burn-foot, before the spate caught her, she had been given grace to resist her adversary and fling herself upon God's mercy. And it would seem that it had been granted; for when he came to the Skerburnfoot, there in the corner sat the weird wife Alison, dead as a stone.
- 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.
- (archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Noun
[edit]weird (plural weirds)
- (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
- 1965, Poul Anderson, The Corridors of Time, page 226:
- Step by reluctant step, he had come to know his weird. The North must be saved from her.
- A prediction.
- Synonyms: foretale, foretelling; see also Thesaurus:prediction
- (obsolete, Scotland) A spell or charm.
- Synonym: enchantment
- 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
- That which comes to pass; a fact.
- (archaic, in the plural, personification) The Fates.
- Synonym: Norns
- (informal) Weirdness.
- 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 33:
- You know why it feels so good to be amongst real friends? They allow you to be your weird and love you for it. Imagine how it would feel to freely let your weird out and have the world love you for it.
Derived terms
[edit]Verb
[edit]weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirding, simple past and past participle weirded)
- (transitive) To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
- (transitive) To warn solemnly; adjure.
Adverb
[edit]weird (not comparable)
- (nonstandard) In a strange manner. [from 1970s]
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.").
References
[edit]- “weird”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “weird”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “weird, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “weird, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “weird, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “weird adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “weird, adj.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “weird, n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]weird (plural weirds)
Middle English
[edit]Noun
[edit]weird
- Alternative form of werde
Scots
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Middle English werde, wirde, wyrde, from Old English wyrd (“fate, destiny”), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]weird (plural weirds)
- fate, fortune, destiny, one's own particular fate or appointed lot
- event destined to happen, a god's decree, omen, prophecy, prediction. Old Scots Proverb: "Before wierd, there's word" i.e., before a divine event there's a warning.
- wizard, warlock, one having deep or supernatural skill or knowledge
Derived terms
[edit]Adjective
[edit]weird (comparative mair weird, superlative maist weird)
Verb
[edit]weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirdin, simple past weirdit, past participle weirdit)
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wert-
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English doublets
- English terms borrowed from Middle Scots
- English terms derived from Middle Scots
- English 1-syllable words
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)d
- Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)d/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with archaic senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Scottish English
- English informal terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English adverbs
- English uncomparable adverbs
- English nonstandard terms
- en:Personality
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 2-syllable words
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French terms spelled with W
- North American French
- French informal terms
- fr:Personality
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns
- Scots adjectives
- Scots verbs