weird
/ˈwiɚd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.81 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Relating to weird fiction ("a macabre subgenre of speculative fiction").
adj
Belonging, pertaining, or related to fate, destiny, or to the Fates; able to influence fate.
adj
Related to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft or unearthliness; uncanny; unearthly.
adj
Having super- or preternatural power.
Example Sentences
- "There are lots of weird people in this place."
- "It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day."
- "It was weird for him to watch boys play with Barbie dolls."
- "The best recent VC discs start from the relentlessness of gabber and digital hardcore, and yank it in a weirder direction."
- "[…] filled with laphet. Fermented tea leaves kneaded with peanut oil, laphet is, hands-down, Myanmar's weirdest and most wonderful contribution to world cuisine."
- "a weird story"
Etymology
From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”); more at worth (verb). Doublet of wyrd, a reborrowing of the original sense and spelling. Obsolete by the 16th century in English, it was reintroduced by Shakespeare, who borrowed Middle Scots weird as weyward in the name of the Weyward Sisters (later respelt as Weird Sisters), meaning “Sisters of Fate”. The senses “abnormal”, “strange” etc., arising from a reinterpretatation of the Sisters' naming, are posterior to his borrowing.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwiɚd/
- British English: /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/