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Wyrd vs Weird - What's the difference?

wyrd | weird |

Weird is a descendant of wyrd.



As nouns the difference between wyrd and weird

is that wyrd is fate, destiny, particular in an Anglo-Saxon or Norse context while weird is fate; destiny; luck.

As an adjective weird is

connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.

As a verb weird is

to destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.

wyrd

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Fate, destiny, particular in an Anglo-Saxon or Norse context.
  • * 1983 , Brian Bates, The Way of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer , Century:
    • Wyrd' is too vast, too complex for us to comprehend, for we are ourselves part of ' wyrd and cannot stand back to observe it as if it were a separate force.
  • * 1992 , Fred Alan Wolf, The eagle's quest: a physicist's search for truth in the heart of the shamanic world , Simon and Schuster, page 51:
    • I had journeyed back to England as part of my research on this book to meet with two Englishmen who were practicing Anglo-Saxon shamans who had been researching and practicing the sounds and ways of wyrd .
  • * 2009 , Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Bones of the Dragon: Volume 1 , Macmillan, page 78:
    • His three sisters sat, beneath the tree, one twisting the wyrd' on her distaff, one spinning the '''wyrd''' on her wheel, one weaving the ' wyrds of gods and men on her loom.
    ----

    weird

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
  • Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
  • * Longfellow
    • Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.
  • * Shakespeare, Macbeth , Act 1 Scene 5
    • Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, 'Thane of Cawdor'; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!'
  • Having supernatural or preternatural power.
    • There was a weird light shining above the hill.
  • Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
    • There are lots of weird people in this place.
  • Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
    • It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.
  • (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.

    • Usage notes

    * Weird is one of the most noted exceptions to the (I before E except after C) spelling heuristic.

    Synonyms

    * (having supernatural or preternatural power) eerie, uncanny * (unusually strange in character or behaviour) fremd, oddball, peculiar, whacko * (deviating from the normal) bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, strange * (of or pertaining to the Fates) fateful * See also

    Derived terms

    * weirdo * weirdly * weirdness * weird out

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
  • * 1912 , , trans. Arthur S. Way (Heinemenn 1946, p. 361)
    • In the weird of death shall the hapless be whelmed, and from Doom’s dark prison / Shall she steal forth never again.
  • A prediction.
  • (obsolete, Scotland) A spell or charm.
    • (Sir Walter Scott)
  • That which comes to pass; a fact.
  • (archaic, in the plural) The Fates (personified).

    • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * * weirdless

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
  • To warn solemnly; adjure.
  • See weird out .
    • That joke really weirded me out.

    Anagrams

    * * * English words not following the I before E except after C rule ----