unheimlich

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German unheimlich.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʊnˈhaɪmlɪx/ (or as German, below)

Adjective

unheimlich (comparative more unheimlich, superlative most unheimlich)

  1. Weird, uncanny. [from 19th c.]
    • 1936, Isiah Berlin, letter, 3 Jun 1936:
      My point is that there is no grand single line, everything is in bits, & often absolutely dead, & always very unheimlich, almost macabre.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 272:
      Werfner, damn him, keen-witted but unheimlich, is obsessed with railway lines
    • 2009, MG Piety, translating Søren Kirkegaard, Repetition, Oxford 2009, p. 33:
      The music rings throughout the hall, somewhat unheimlich, given that the place is so empty.

German

Etymology

un- + heimlich, the latter here in the sense of “familiar”.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʊnˌhaɪ̯m.lɪç/, /ˌʊnˈhaɪ̯m.lɪç/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: un‧heim‧lich

Adjective

unheimlich (comparative unheimlicher, superlative am unheimlichsten)

  1. uncanny
  2. creepy, eerie
  3. incredible

Declension

Further reading

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