eldritch
/ˈɛl.dɹɪt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.34 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Example Sentences
- "So Maggie runs, the witches follow, / Wi' mony an eldritch ſkreech and hollow."
- "I look'd upon the rotting Sea, / And drew my eyes away; / I look'd upon the eldritch deck / And there the dead men lay."
- "Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent."
- "And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone."
- "The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush lamp caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch cackles which betokened mirth."
- "Surprise, horror, loathing were depicted on all faces while he eyed them with a ghostly grin. I anticipated some such reception, he began with an eldritch laugh, for which, it seems, history is to blame."
Etymology
From the earlier form elritch, of uncertain origin. The second element, -ritch, is generally taken to be Old English rīċe (“realm, kingdom”). Some think that the first element, el-, derives from an Old English root meaning “foreign, strange, other” (related to Old English ellende and modern English else); others think that it derives from elf. It was reintroduced into popular literature by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft.
Origin
- Source language: Old English
Word Breakdown
- Root: rīċe, -
Inflected Forms
more eldritch (comparative)
most eldritch (superlative)
eldrich (alternative)
elrich (alternative)
elritch (alternative)