Word of the Day

: October 10, 2023

berserk

adjective ber-SERK

What It Means

Berserk generally means “markedly out of control due to intense anger or excitement.” It is often used in the phrase go berserk, which can mean either “to become very excited” or “to become very angry and often violent.”

// The crowd went wild with berserk fans screaming as the main act finally hit the stage.

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berserk in Context

“The actor made his nightly entrance at the Roxy from the lobby to the stage, belting out the signature tune. … ‘Tim’s entrance was phenomenal,’ recounts David Foster, the Grammy-winning composer and producer, who early in his career was the show’s pianist. ‘The place just went berserk because, of course, he was so much bigger than life.’” — Steve Appleford, The Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2023

Did You Know?

Combine a bear with a shirt and what do you get? A cuddly, honey-loving, ursine pal, perhaps. Combine the words bear and shirt however, at least in Old Norse, and you get something quite different. Our English word berserk comes from the Old Norse noun berserkr, which is likely a combination of ber- (“bear”) and serkr (“shirt”). According to Norse legend, berserkers were not ones to say “Oh bother” when faced with sticky situations—they were warriors who wore bearskin coverings and worked themselves into such frenzies during combat that they became immune to the effects of steel and fire. Berserk was borrowed into English (first as a noun referring to such a warrior) in the 19th century, when interest in Scandinavian myth and history was high. It was considered a slang term at first, but it has since gained broader use.