eerie

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   strange and frightening in a mysterious way

   An eerie silence hung over the abandoned house.

Simplified etymology

Eerie was originally a northern English and Scots word meaning “fearful,” probably derived from Old English earg, “cowardly.” Its meaning shifted from the feeling of fear to something that causes fear, producing the modern sense “strange and frightening.”

From Middle English eri, eri ('fearful, timid'), a northern English and Scots word probably from Old English earg ('cowardly, wretched'); the sense shifted from 'affected by fear' to 'inspiring fear, weird'.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary