uncanny

Definition

Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.

Etymology

From un- + canny; thus “beyond one's ken,” or outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions. Compare Middle English unkanne (“unknown”). In the noun sense a translation of Sigmund Freud's usage of German unheimlich (Das Unheimliche, 1919).

Example Sentences

• "He bore an uncanny resemblance to the dead sailor."
• "An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful."
• "These men had some uncanny knack of knowing when the steel was right, and like many such things, it just could not be put into a textbook on the subject."