# eldritch

Pronunciation: say "EL-drich" /ˈɛl.dɹɪt͡ʃ/

## Adjective

1. Eerie and unearthly, seeming to belong to a world beyond the natural one.
   - Simple: Strange and scary in a way that does not seem natural.
   - _Somewhere below the cliffs, an eldritch shriek rose above the wind._
   - _Horror fans love the author's eldritch creatures from beyond the stars._

## Origin

From the earlier form elritch, of uncertain origin. The second part, -ritch, is generally taken to be Old English rīċe ("realm, kingdom"); the first part, el-, may come from an Old English root meaning "foreign, strange, other" (related to else), or from elf. The writings of H. P. Lovecraft brought it back into popular literature.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/eldritch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).