wyrd

Definition

Fate, destiny, particularly in an Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse context.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English wyrd. Doublet of weird.

Example Sentences

• "Wyrd is too vast, too complex for us to comprehend, for we are ourselves part of wyrd and cannot stand back to observe it as if it were a separate force."
• "I had journeyed back to England as part of my research on this book to meet with two Englishmen who were practicing Anglo-Saxon shamans who had been researching and practicing the sounds and ways of wyrd."
• "His three sisters sat, beneath the tree, one twisting the wyrd on her distaff, one spinning the wyrd on her wheel, one weaving the wyrds of gods and men on her loom."