英[wɪəd]美[wɪrd]
记忆方法
词源记忆法
来自PIE*wer,弯,转,纺织,词源同versus,wreath。原指北欧神话中编织人命运之线的三女神,又称weird sisters,但这三姐妹在传说和文学作品中都被描绘成无比怪异的女巫形象,因此引申词义怪异的,奇怪的。
词根词缀法
来自PIE*wer,弯,转,纺织,词源同versus,wreath。原指北欧神话中编织人命运之线的三女神,又称weird sisters,但这三姐妹在传说和文学作品中都被描绘成无比怪异的女巫形象,因此引申词义怪异的,奇怪的。词根-weir-指“转;扭”,“扭曲的”即不正常,引申为“怪异的”。它的同源词太多,如后缀-ward(朝向,字面义“转向”),如forward(向前);worm(蠕虫,“身体扭曲”);词根vert、vers亦是同源,如divert(转移)、invert(反转)、revert(恢复)。=在莎翁的名剧《麦克白》(Macbeth,1605)中,麦克白以weird sisters称呼他在荒野上遇见的三女巫,这并没有什么不敬之意。weird sisters原指神话中的命运三女神,相当于希腊、罗马神话中的Fates及北欧神话中的Norns;而weird一词在古英语中作wyrd,原本就是“命运”的意思。weird原为名词,经莎翁这么一用,此后便转类为形容词,有having power to control fate(能够控制命运的)之意。至于它的今义“怪异的”等则是到19世纪时因受雪莱和济慈等诗人和作家的青睐而通用起来的,一般用于口语。20世纪中期出现的weirdie和weirdo都是由weird衍生的,均指“怪人”或“怪物”。
adjective(形容词)
双解例句
adjective(形容词)
小知识
Call something weird when it’s strange, bizarre, or strikes you as odd. Putting peanut butter on pizza is weird. So is most abstract, conceptual performance art.
Our definition of weird is rooted in Germanic mythology, where the “weird sisters” were three funky-looking goddesses that controlled fate and destiny: We dropped the idea of destiny and clung to how weird the weird sisters looked. In today’s slang we even use weird as a verb, as in “to weird someone out” or make them feel uneasy.