weird

English

WOTD – 5 March 2007

Alternative forms

• wierd (obsolete)

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 Middle Low German wrd, wrth (“fate, death”), Middle High German wurt (“fate, death”), Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”). More at worth.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɪəd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /wiɚd/, /wɪɚd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)d

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

Adjective

weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)

1. Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
2. 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!'

3. Having supernatural or preternatural power.

   There was a weird light shining above the hill.

4. Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.

   There are lots of weird people in this place.

5. Deviating from the normal; bizarre.

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

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

Usage notes

• Weird is one of the most noted exceptions to the I before E except after C spelling heuristic.

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 Wikisaurus:strange

Derived terms

• weirdo
• weirdly
• weirdness
• weird out

Translations

having supernatural or preternatural power

• Dutch: bovennatuurlijk (nl)
• Finnish: yliluonnollinen

• Russian: потусторонний (ru) (potustorónnij), сверхъестественный (ru) (sverxʺjestéstvennyj)

having an unusually strange character or behaviour

• Arabic: عجيب (ʿajīb)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奇怪 (zh) (qíguài)

• Czech: divný (cs), zvláštní (cs)
• Dutch: vreemd (nl), raar (nl), bizar (nl), eigenaardig (nl)
• 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)

• Hebrew: מוזר (he)
• Italian: strano (it)
• Japanese: 変 (ja) (へん, hen)
• Persian: عجیب (fa) ('ajib)
• Polish: dziwny (pl) m
• Portuguese: estranho (pt)
• Romanian: straniu (ro), ciudat (ro)
• Russian: странный (ru) (stránnyj), причудливый (ru) (pričúdlivyj), чудной (ru) (čudnój)
• Turkish: acaip (tr), garip (tr), tuhaf (tr), yadırgatıcı (tr)

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: please add this translation if you can
• German: eigenartig (de), merkwürdig (de), sonderbar (de), seltsam (de), bizarr (de)

• Icelandic: kynlegur (is) m
• Italian: bizzarro (it)
• Japanese: 変 (ja) (へん, hen)
• Lojban: cizra (jbo)
• Polish: dziwaczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: estranho (pt), bizarro (pt)
• Russian: странный (ru) (stránnyj), причудливый (ru) (pričúdlivyj), чудной (ru) (čudnój)
• Slovak: divný m
• Turkish: garip (tr), tuhaf (tr), acaip (tr)

archaic: of or pertaining to the Fates

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.
3. (transitive) To make (one) feel weird; make uneasy or uncomfortable due to weirdness; strike one as being weird.

   That joke really weirded me out.

Anagrams

• wider
• wired
• wried

---

Scots

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wird/, [wi:rd]

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

tae weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirdin, simple 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