Word of the Day: WEIRD

weird (adj) - mysteriously strange, unexpected, or supernatural; eerie or odd [weerd]

• to weird someone out is to make them feel strange or uncomfortable

• a weirdo is someone deemed odd or eccentric

BACKGROUND: Weird has kind of a weird background, originally meaning fate or destiny as derived from various languages. Weird and its cousins wyrd, wird, and wurd mostly dropped out of usage everywhere except Scotland, but Shakespeare revived the word by naming the Three Witches in Macbeth the Weird Sisters. Since then, we’ve used weird to describe anything supernatural, strange, or odd.

“I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in this world is weird. One day two people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love.” —Dr. Seuss

[Our Wednesday Wildcards are fascinating and important words that are not derived from classical roots.]