Idiosyncrasy

//ˌɪdɪəʊˈsɪŋkɹəsi// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A behavior or way of thinking that is characteristic of a person or a group.

    "This mode of death had been an idiosyncrasy with his family, for generations past; not often occurring, indeed, but, when it does occur, usually attacking individuals about the Judge’s time of life, and generally in the tension of some mental crisis, or, perhaps, in an access of wrath."

  2. 2
    a behavioral attribute that is distinctive and peculiar to an individual wordnet
  3. 3
    A peculiar individual reaction to a generally innocuous substance or factor; a risk factor.

    "[…]I have no antipathy, or rather Idio-ſyncraſie, in dyet, humour, ayre, any thing; […]."

  4. 4
    A peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify.

    "He mastered the idiosyncrasies of English spelling and speech."

Etymology

First attested in 1604, in modern sense since 1665, from Ancient Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασία (idiosunkrasía, “one’s own temperament”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one’s own”) + σύν (sún, “together”) + κρᾶσις (krâsis, “temperament”). By surface analysis, idio- + syn- + -crasy.

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