weird

See also: WEIRD and weïrd

English

WOTD – 5 March 2007

Alternative forms

• 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”). 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): /wɪəd/, /wiːəd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /wiɚd/, /wɪɚd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)d

Adjective

weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)

1. (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.

   (Can we find and add a quotation to this entry?)

2. (archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
3. (archaic) Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
   • Longfellow

     Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.

   • Shakespeare, Macbeth, 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!'

   • Victor Whitechurch

     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.

4. (archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.

   There was a weird light shining above the hill.

5. Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.

   There are lots of weird people in this place.

6. Deviating from the normal; bizarre.

   It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Derived terms

• weirdly
• weirdness

• weirdo
• weird out

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)
• 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, f, løgið n
• Finnish: outo (fi)
• French: bizarre (fr), étrange (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: seltsam (de), komisch (de), eigenartig (de), merkwürdig (de)
• Hebrew: מוזר‎‎ (he)

• Icelandic: skrýtinn (is) m, skrýtin f, skrýtið n
• 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: kỳ quái (vi)

deviating from the normal; bizarre

• 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, f
• Georgian: უცნაური (ucnauri)
• German: eigenartig (de), merkwürdig (de), sonderbar (de), seltsam (de), bizarr (de)
• Icelandic: kynlegur (is) m

• Italian: bizzarro (it), bislacco (it) m
• Japanese: 変 (ja) (へん, hen)
• Khmer: ជំលើយ (cumləəy)
• 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: kỳ quái (vi)

Noun

weird (plural weirds)

1. (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
   • 1912, Euripides, Medea, trans. Arthur S. Way (Heinemenn 1946, p. 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

• orlay

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.

Derived terms

• weird out

Anagrams

• Dwire, wider, wierd, wired, wried

---

Scots

Etymology

From Old English wyrd (“fate, destiny”).

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

Derived terms

• dree one's weird (“endure one's fate”)
• weirdie (“the smallest or least thriving of a brood”)
• weirdly (“lucky, of prosperous or sinister fate, magical, eerie, dismal”)
• wanweird (“unhappy fate”)

• weirdfu (“fateful, fraught with the supernatural”)
• weirdless (“unfortunate, ill-fated, inept, incapable”)
• weirdman (“soothsayer”)
• weirdwife (“prophetess, fortune-teller”)

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