eldritchness means the quality of being eldritch. It carries an Arena rating of 1304, earned across 32 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, eldritchness ranks #236 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #480 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,856 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,353 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “eldritchness” is a great word
The quality of being profoundly and unnervingly strange in a manner that suggests a supernatural origin utterly alien to the natural order. From eldritch (of uncertain origin, possibly from Middle English *elriche, from Old English *æl-rīċe, from æl- ("elf") + -rīċe ("realm, kingdom")) + the noun-forming suffix -ness. Unlike "eerie," which suggests a vague, unsettling strangeness born of ambiguity, or "supernaturality," a neutral term for phenomena beyond nature, eldritchness carries the specific, chilling weight of the cosmic and aberrant. It is the non-Euclidean geometry of a sunken city’s architecture, the indescribable hue of a light from between the stars, and the flesh that moves in ways no flesh should—the quiet horror of a universe not merely indifferent, but actively, insanely wrong.
Etymology
From eldritch + -ness.
noun
- The quality of being eldritch.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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