Word of the Day: Idiosyncrasy

Idiosyncrasy comes from the Greek: idios “one’s own” and sun-krasis “temperament” or “mixture.” Idiosyncrasy is a peculiar habit or characteristic of an individual or group. It can also refer to mental and physical characteristics. Below you will find examples of the usage.

This compendium of epithets, pejoratives, blasphemies and obscenities manages to be informal in its style without succumbing to idiosyncrasy or leering. (NY Times)

As far as I know, the Soviet Union had a pretty good research sector. But it did a miserable job of translating this research into consumer products, or indeed any products, except possibly weapons. You could chalk this up to some idiosyncrasy of the Soviet Union. (The Economist)

Daniel Scocco on May 29, 2007 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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4 Responses to “Word of the Day: Idiosyncrasy”

Jason Drohn on May 30th, 2007 1:02 pm

I love this word. If you want a puzzled look from a friend, throw it into a sentence before the end of the day :0)
Techie Buzz on May 30th, 2007 11:06 pm

Thats quite a complicated word. Yet it has such a powerful meaning to deliver many views in a single word
Daniel on May 30th, 2007 11:10 pm

Jason, absolutely!
surfmadpig on August 5th, 2007 3:07 pm

I’d like to add that idiosyncrasy, has a lot to do with the mentality of a person, it’s almost the same thing - at least the way it’s used in the Greek language.