unheimelijk

Unheimelijk is a Dutch adjective meaning eerie, uncanny, or sinister, used to describe phenomena that provoke unease by mixing the familiar with the unfamiliar. The term is a direct Dutch adaptation of the German adjective unheimlich, which literally means not homely; heimlich in German can also mean secret, adding to the sense of something hidden or unsettling when negated.

In philosophy and psychoanalysis, the related German noun das Unheimliche, or the concept of the uncanny, has been influential. Sigmund Freud popularized the idea of the uncanny as a feeling that arises when something is familiar yet alien, often linked to repetition, doubles, or lifelike but inanimate objects. Although unheimelijk in Dutch is primarily a general descriptor, the underlying sense aligns with this Freudian notion.

Culturally, unheimelijk is commonly used in Dutch literary criticism, film criticism, and everyday description to indicate atmospheres of suspense, dread, or discomfort. Gothic fiction, psychological thrillers, and horror cinema are frequent contexts in which something is described as unheimelijk, not merely scary but disquieting because it unsettles the boundary between the ordinary and the anomalous.