weird

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/, /ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/ (UK); /ˈwiɚd/, /ˈwɪɚd/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

inherited from Middle English werde (“fate”),^[2][3][1] from inherited from Old English wyrd (“fate, chance, destiny”),^{[2][4][5][6][1]} from Proto-Germanic *wurþiz.^[5][6][1] It is related to Old English weorþan “to become”^[4][5][6][1] and cognate with Old Norse urðr “fate”, also the name of one of the Norns.^[4][5][6] Etymonline traces it to the Proto-Indo-European root *wert- “to turn, wind”, so that it is etymologically “that which comes (to pass)”.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, “fate, destiny”, from Old English (about 725, in Beowulf).^[5][7] The adjective appeared around 1400 in the phrase weird sisters, the three Fates who control human destiny, meaning “having power over fate”.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective owes its modern life to Macbeth: Shakespeare took weird sisters from Scottish sources for his three witches,^[1][3] and the word was gradually reinterpreted from “fate-controlling” to “supernatural, uncanny”.^[1][6] The sisters were often portrayed as frightening or odd in appearance, especially in 18th- and 19th-century productions.^[6] The adjective on its own, without sisters, emerged in the early 19th century,^[6] and Shelley was perhaps the first to use it regularly in the sense “uncanny”.^[6] The weakened sense “odd-looking” is first recorded in 1815,^[5][7] and “strange, unusual” in 1820.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English wyrd, “fate”.^[7][5]
• c. 1400 – adjective, in weird sisters.^[5][6][7]
• 1815 – “odd-looking”.^[5][7]
• 1817 – “supernatural, unearthly”.^[7]
• 1820 – “strange, unusual”.^[7]
• 1859 – weird and wonderful.^[7]
• 1970s – adverb, “in a strange manner”.^[1]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Strikingly odd or unusual; bizarre.
2. Suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny.
3. (archaic) Of or controlling fate.

Noun

1. (chiefly Scotland) Fate or destiny, especially an evil fate.

Word family

• weirdly
• weirdness
• weirdie
• weirdo
• weird out

Related words

• worth
• wyrd
• eerie
• uncanny
• witch

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster notes that weird, eerie and uncanny all mean mysteriously strange: weird may suggest an unearthly strangeness or simply oddness, eerie a strangeness that frightens, and uncanny something hard to explain, such as a resemblance.^[4]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press