Etymology

eerie

E1E1R1I1E1

Today it means: Inspiring fear, especially in a mysterious or shadowy way; strange, weird. Full definition →

Middle English eri ← Old English earg ← Proto-West Germanic *arg
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eerie · adjective, noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*argaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*arg
  3. Old English · inherited fromearg“cowardly, fearful”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromeri“fearful”
  5. English todayeerie

From Middle English eri (“fearful”), from Old English earg (“cowardly, fearful”), from Proto-West Germanic *arg, from Proto-Germanic *argaz. Akin to Scots ergh, argh from the same Old English source. Doublet of argh.

eerie · noun2

See eyrie.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishearg all →

argh

Proto-West Germanic*arg all →

argh

Proto-Germanic*argaz all →

argh

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.