Meaning & use

wyrd

noun·Advanced

An Old English concept of fate or destiny, seen as a force that shapes events beyond human control.

See it in a sentence

The poem speaks of wyrd as an unstoppable force guiding every warrior's fate.

Scholars trace the modern word "weird" back to this older concept of wyrd.

A note on using this word

Wyrd is chiefly a literary and historical term found in Old English poetry like Beowulf, and is the linguistic ancestor of "weird."

Words with a similar meaning

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