unheimlich
English
Etymology
Borrowed from German unheimlich.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʊnˈhaɪmlɪx/ (or as German, below)
Adjective
unheimlich (comparative more unheimlich, superlative most unheimlich)
- 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, published 2007, page 272:
- Werfner, damn him, keen-witted but unheimlich, is obsessed with railway lines
- 2009, Søren Kirkegaard, translated by MG Piety, Repetition, Oxford, page 33:
- The music rings throughout the hall, somewhat unheimlich, given that the place is so empty.
- 1936, Isiah Berlin, letter, 3 Jun 1936:
German
Etymology
From Middle High German unheimlich, from Old High German *unheimlīh, equivalent to un- + heimlich (“familiar”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʊnˌhaɪ̯m.lɪç/, /ˌʊnˈhaɪ̯m.lɪç/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: un‧heim‧lich
Adjective
unheimlich (strong nominative masculine singular unheimlicher, comparative unheimlicher, superlative am unheimlichsten)
- uncanny
- creepy, eerie
- incredible
- (colloquial) large; (intensifier) very in an overbearing way
- 1995, Christian Kracht, “Fünf”, in Faserland, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, published 2020, →ISBN:
- Die Leute sind alle unheimlich freundlich zu mir, obwohl ich, wie gesagt, absolut niemand kenne.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension
Positive forms of unheimlich
Comparative forms of unheimlich
Superlative forms of unheimlich
Related terms
Further reading
- “unheimlich” in Duden online
- “unheimlich” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
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