weird
pronunciation
How to pronounce weird in British English:
UK [wɪəd]
How to pronounce weird in American English:
US [wɪrd]
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- Adjective:
- suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
- strikingly odd or unusual
Word Origin
- weird
- weird: [OE] Originally, weird was a noun, meaning ‘fate, destiny’. Etymologically it denoted ‘that which comes about’: for it was derived from the same base which produced the now obsolete English verb worth ‘come to be, become’ (a relative of German werden ‘become’). It was used adjectivally in Middle English in the sense ‘having power to control fate’ (which is where the weird sisters who confronted Macbeth come in), but the modern sense ‘uncanny’ did not emerge until the early 19th century, inspired by, but taking semantic liberties with, Shakespeare’s use of the word.=> verse
- weird (adj.)
- c. 1400, "having power to control fate, from wierd (n.), from Old English wyrd "fate, chance, fortune; destiny; the Fates," literally "that which comes," from Proto-Germanic *wurthiz (cognates: Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt "fate," Old Norse urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, to wind," (cognates: German werden, Old English weorðan "to become"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," compare phrase turn into "become." The sense "uncanny, supernatural" developed from Middle English use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Germanic mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth" (and especially in 18th and 19th century productions of it), which led to the adjectival meaning "odd-looking, uncanny" (1815); "odd, strange, disturbingly different" (1820). Related: Weirdly; weirdness.
Example
- 1. Do you ever fear to be transgressive or weird ?
- 2. Mr sloan tethers his story to a weird reality , striking a comical balance between eccentric and normal .
- 3. On these nights of low moon , people of a more unstable temperament began to do weird things .
- 4. A british scientist is getting involved with a pretty weird science project he has infected himself with a computer virus .
- 5. He thought mine was noise , I thought his was weird .