Link Centre Dictionary

berserk

ber·serk

UK/ˈbɜːsɜːk/ US/ˈbɚˌsɚk/ uncommon rare slang
noun (1) adjective (1)

noun

1.

one of the ancient Norse warriors legendary for working themselves into a frenzy before a battle and fighting with reckless savagery and insane fury

Synonyms

adjective

1.

in a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon

  • “the soldier was completely amuck”
  • “berserk with grief”
  • “a berserk worker smashing windows”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserker. The adjective is derived from the noun. The verb might partly be a back-formation from berserker, analyzed as containing the suffix -er. Cognates * Danish bersærk * Icelandic berserkur * Norwegian Bokmål berserk * Norwegian Nynorsk berserk * Swedish bärsärk

Phrases

  • berserk llama syndrome
  • go berserk

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.