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eerie

SayEER-ee/ˈɪɚi//ˈɪəɹi/

Formseerier, eeriest

3 meanings of eerie

Practice

  1. 1
    creepyadjective
    Strange and frightening, especially in a mysterious or shadowy way.

    An eerie silence settled over the town after the sirens stopped.

    The fog gave the abandoned pier an even eerier look.

    UsageCommon combinations include eerie silence and eerie glow. Use eerily before adjectives: eerily quiet, eerily similar.

    Similarcreepy, spooky, freaky, bizarre, freakish

    Note

    The word has turned around: it once described the person who is afraid, and now it describes what does the frightening. Its Old English ancestor earg meant "cowardly, fearful," and that inward meaning survives in Scotland as the "frightened" sense.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Eerie developed from an earlier meaning describing someone afraid to a meaning describing something that inspires fear. en.wiktionary.org
    • Eerie derives from Old English earg, meaning cowardly or fearful. en.wiktionary.org
    • The frightened sense survives in Scottish usage. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    feeling afraidadjectivedialectalScotland
    Feeling frightened, or timid and easily scared.
    She began to feel eerie.
    1883, George MacDonald, Donal Grant
    'It is my business to read the hearts o' men,' said the other. 'And who may ye be?' said Heriotside, growing eerie.
    1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

    UsageCan follow feel or grow: she began to feel eerie, meaning afraid, not frightening.

    Similarfrightened, scared, fearful, timid

    Oppositebrave, fearless

    Note

    George MacDonald writes that she began to feel eerie, and John Buchan's Heriotside grows eerie when a stranger claims to read men's hearts. Outside Scotland the same sentence is likely to be heard the other way.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • George MacDonald's narrative says that she began to feel eerie; the passage concerns Lady Arctura in Donal Grant. gutenberg.org
    • In John Buchan's narrative, Heriotside grows eerie immediately after his companion claims to read men's hearts. gutenberg.org

Less common meaning

  1. 3
    nounrare
    A strange and frightening creature or thing.
    I tell you it's weirdsville down there, a spaced-out botanical Twilight Zone of creepies, crawlies, eeries, and ghastlies.
    2013, Robert Silverberg, “A Science-Fiction Garden”

Practice

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Origin

Old English earg meant "cowardly, fearful." It came from Proto-Germanic *argaz and became Middle English eri ("fearful"). The same Old English word gave Scots ergh or argh, and argh is a doublet of eerie.