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weirdo

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Etymology and origin of the English word weirdo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1950 San Francisco Examiner
Ultimate origin
Old English wyrd
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English weird
English weirdo

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwɪə.dəʊ/[1]
  • US: /ˈwiɹ.doʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English weird + -o.[2][3][4][5][6] The adjective weird comes through the noun weird, fate, from Old English wyrd (“fate, chance, fortune; destiny”).[3] Etymonline compares the earlier Scottish weirdie, an odd or unconventional person, recorded by 1887.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strange or eccentric person: 1950, in the San Francisco Examiner of 19 May.[2] Etymonline quotes a newspaper report of 18 May 1950 in which Tallulah Bankhead is said to have called Marlon Brando a "weird-o".[3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1955,[4] the year of Green's first quotation, from L. Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz.[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun has kept its sense of an odd or eccentric person;[2][8] the Shorter Oxford also records a particular use for any long-haired, bearded young man.[5] It was used as an adjective, bizarre or eccentric, by 1960 according to Green, and by 1962 according to the OED and Etymonline.[7][2][3]

Timeline

  • 1950 – an odd, eccentric person.[2][3]
  • 1960 – adjective, bizarre, eccentric.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (informal) A person who behaves in a strange or eccentric way: Some weirdo kept ringing the doorbell at midnight.[8][4][2]

Adjective

  1. (informal) Bizarre, eccentric or odd.[2][5][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Weirdo.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/weirdo. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·