English Explanatory Dictionary

weird

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
  2. Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
  3. Relating to weird fiction ("a macabre subgenre of speculative fiction").
  4. Of or pertaining to the Fates.
  5. Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
  6. Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
  7. Having supernatural or preternatural power.
noun
  1. Fate; destiny; luck.
  2. A prediction.
  3. A spell or charm.
  4. That which comes to pass; a fact.
  5. The Fates.
  6. Weirdness.
verb
  1. To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
  2. To warn solemnly; adjure.
adv
  1. In a strange manner.
adj
  1. Acronym of Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/ /ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/ /ˈwiɚd/ /ˈwɪɚd/ en-us-weird.ogg en-au-weird.ogg en-GB-weird.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-weird.wav

Word forms

weird weirder weirdest weïrd wierd weyard weyward weirds weirding weirded

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”). Doublet of wyrd. More at worth. Obsolete by the 16th century in English, but reintroduced from Middle Scots weird, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters (originally Weyward Sisters, the Three Witches), reintroducing it to English. The senses “abnormal”, “strange” etc. arose via reinterpretation of Weird Sisters and date from after this reintroduction.

Synonyms

odd oddball peculiar strange wacko 5150 bananas barking barking mad buggish buggy bughouse barmy batchy batpoop bats batty bonkers bread baskets cracked crackers cra-cra cray cray-cray crazed crazy crazy as a bedbug crazy as a cootie crazy as a cootie bug crazy as a pet coon cuckoo daffy daft demented deranged distraught disturbed doolally dotty eccentric fruit loops gaga hatstand harebrained insane kooky loon loco loony loony tunes loopy lunatic mad mental mentally ill meshigener meshugge moonsick nerts non compos mentis

Derived words

one weird trick weird and wonderful weird-ass weirden weird fiction weirdie weirding weirdist weirdly weird matching weirdness weird number weirdo weird out weird sister weirdsome dree one’s weird weirdless
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