Eerie

How to spell eerie

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce eerie

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eerie mean?

1. adjectiveStrange and frightening in a way that suggests something supernatural or unsettling.

Eerie in a sentence

• An eerie silence settled over the empty office after midnight.

• The abandoned hospital had an eerie atmosphere that made visitors uneasy.

Where does eerie come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Eerie began life in the north of England and Scotland as the word eri or eary, which originally meant 'timid' or 'fearful', describing the person who is afraid rather than the thing that frightens. It traces back to the Old English earg, meaning 'cowardly' or 'weak', a word with relatives across the Germanic languages. Over time the sense flipped from the frightened to the frightening, so that by the eighteenth century eerie described something that inspires unease or dread, especially with a hint of the supernatural. Robert Burns and other Scottish writers helped carry the word into wider literary English with this newer meaning. The doubled vowel that trips people up, ee then ie, simply reflects the long 'ee' sound followed by the old -ie ending, and remembering that eerie keeps the same -ie tail as eyrie can help fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• eerie (from Northern English/Scots eri, eary: timid, fearful)
• -ie/-y (adjective ending)