Idiosyncrasy

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɪdɪəʊˈsɪŋkɹəsi/

Definitions

1. A distinctive and unique personal trait or behavioral quirk that differentiates someone from others
2. A specific and often peculiar mannerism or characteristic that is particular to an individual or group
3. An unusual or distinctive behavior or characteristic unique to an individual

Etymology: The Greek physicians of antiquity had a theory that health depended on the balance of four bodily fluids, or humours, and that each person's particular mixture, or "krasis," gave them their temperament. "Idiosunkrasia" combined "idios," meaning "one's own," with "sun," meaning "together," and "krasis," meaning "mixture" or "temperament," so the original sense was roughly "one's own particular temperament." The word was first recorded in English in 1604, but it kept its medical flavour for a while, and only in 1665 did it take on its modern sense of a distinctive personal quirk. The Greek element "krasis" is a word for blending, the same root that gives English "crasis," the contraction of two vowels into one. So the idea of a person as a particular blend of qualities runs through the word's parts. The modern sense of an odd habit or peculiarity grew naturally out of that notion of a temperament peculiar to one individual.

Synonyms: quirk, peculiarity, trait, eccentricity, characteristic

Antonyms: normality, commonality, standard, uniformity, conformity