Link Centre Dictionary

weird

UK/ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/ US/ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/ very common
adjective (2) noun (1)

adjective

1.

suggesting the operation of supernatural influences

  • “an eldritch screech”
  • “the three weird sisters”
  • “stumps...had uncanny shapes as of monstrous creatures” John Galsworthy
  • “an unearthly light”
  • “he could hear the unearthly scream of some curlew piercing the din” Henry Kingsley
Synonyms
Similar
2.

strikingly odd or unusual

  • “some trick of the moonlight; some weird effect of shadow” Bram Stoker
Similar

noun

1.

Fate personified; one of the three Weird Sisters

Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • dree one’s weird
  • one weird trick
  • weird and wonderful
  • weird fiction
  • weird matching
  • weird number
  • weird out
  • weird sister

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.