eerie
/ˈɪəɹi/adjective, noun
eerie is spelled E-E-R-I-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, eerie means “Inspiring fear, especially in a mysterious or shadowy way; strange, weird” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in eerie?
| Letters | 5: E-E-R-I-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is eerie?
Eerie appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce eerie?
- UK /ˈɪəɹi/
- British /ˈɪːɹɪj/
- /ˈɪɹi/
Eerie has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-eerie.ogg, En-us-eerie.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with eerie
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: eyrie.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with eerie?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as eerie from its last stressed vowel (/ɪəɹi/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of eerie
- eerier comparative
- eeriest superlative
- eery
- eeries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does eerie mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Inspiring fear, especially in a mysterious or shadowy way; strange, weird.
The eerie sounds seemed to come from the graveyard after midnight.
- 2
ScotlandFrightened, timid.
noun
- 1
An eerie creature or thing.
- 2
Alternative spelling of eyrie.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Eerie in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étrange, sinistre , craintif, timide, peureux |
| German | unheimlich |
| Portuguese | estranho, assustador, esquisito |
| Spanish | espeluznante, inquietante, sobrecogedor, estremecedor, escalofriante , espantoso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does eerie come from?
From Middle English eri (“fearful”), from Old English earg (“cowardly, fearful”), from Proto-West Germanic *arg, from Proto-Germanic *argaz. Akin to Scots ergh, argh from the same Old English source. Doublet of argh.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).