berserk means furiously, injuriously, or maniacally violent or out of control. It carries an Arena rating of 1610, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, berserk ranks #85 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #91 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #148 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #618 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
berserk is pronounced /ˈbɜːsɜːk/.
Why “berserk” is a great word
A state of wild, destructive fury, or a warrior who enters such a state. From Old Norse berserkr, probably from bjǫrn ("bear") + serkr ("shirt, coat"), referring to warriors wearing bearskins; the noun was introduced into English by the early 19th century, with the adjective derived from it. Unlike "frenzied," which suggests uncontrolled excitement, or "enraged," which implies a focused anger, "berserk" carries the weight of something ancient and animal. It is the bear-shirted warrior biting his shield rim until the iron dents, the splintering of bone through skin, and the heat of your own breath roaring in your ears as you tear into the world with bare hands—the final, terrifying eclipse of the human by the animal within, and the ancient, terrible freedom of becoming the storm you cannot survive.
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserker. The adjective is derived from the noun. The verb might partly be a back-formation from berserker, analyzed as containing the suffix -er. Cognates * Danish bersærk * Icelandic berserkur * Norwegian Bokmål berserk * Norwegian Nynorsk b
adj
- Furiously, injuriously, or maniacally violent or out of control.e.g.“After seeing his sister stabbed to death, he went berserk and attacked the killer like a wild animal.”
- Bizarre; weird.e.g.“[T]he writer conjured up a dystopian fantasy more berserk than anything you might find yourself listening to in the small hours at the Stone Circle.” — 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, arch
- Wildly joyous; ecstatic.e.g.“In amongst the strife, Scott McTominay, whose stoppage-time winner against Israel sent Hampden berserk, and Ryan Christie offered signs of an attacking pulse.” — 2021 October 12, Jamie Lyall, “Faroe Islands 0 – 1 Scotland”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2022:
noun
- Synonym of berserker (“a Norse warrior who fought in a frenzy”).e.g.“She had heard of his profligacy, his bursts of fierce Berserk-madness; and yet now these very faults, instead of repelling, seemed to attract her, and intensify her longing to save him.” — 1848, [Charles Kingsley], “New Actors, and a New Stage”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 40:
verb
- To be or become berserk.e.g.“When great champions went berserking and were angry, they lost their human nature and went mad like dogs.” — 1899 April, G[ranville] Stanley Hall, “A Study of Anger”, in The American Journal of Psychology, volume X, number 3, Worcester, Mass.: Clark University, […] Louis N. Wilson, […], page 522:
- To make berserk.e.g.“He neither knows himself nor his outriders; he berserks a fearful dimension and dismounts, miraculously, in bed!” — 1937, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, New Directions Publishing, published 2006, →ISBN, page 87:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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