May trace from Basque 'bizar' (beard) through Italian to French — a journey from facial hair to bravery to ferocity to outright oddness.
Very strange or unusual, especially in an unsettling or intriguing way.
From French 'bizarre' (odd, fantastic, capricious), from Italian 'bizzarro' (angry, irritable, initially 'bold, brave'). The most accepted etymology traces to Basque 'bizar' (beard), entering Spanish 'bizarro' (gallant, brave, dashing) with the semantic route: bearded man → virile and manly → bold and dashing → eccentric and fantastical. This would make 'bizarre' one of the very few English
In Spanish, 'bizarro' still means 'brave' or 'gallant' — the opposite of the English meaning. A Spanish speaker calling someone 'bizarro' is paying a compliment, while an English speaker calling something 'bizarre' is expressing bewilderment. Same word, completely divergent meanings.