Etymologically
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weirdo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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