Odd

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɒd/

Definitions

1. Strange, unusual, or different from what is normal or expected
2. Not typical or conventional in appearance or behavior ; referring to a number that cannot be evenly divided by two ; something left over after pairs have been made or matched
3. A characteristic of being unconventional or out of the ordinary ; describing an integer that when divided by two results in a fraction ; any item that does not have a matching companion

Etymology: The oddest thing about "odd" is that its original sense was simply arithmetic: a number that does not divide evenly into pairs. The meaning of "unusual" came later, as a figurative extension of the idea of something left over, unmatched, or out of its expected place. The deeper story starts with a sharp point. Old Norse "oddi" meant a point, a triangle, or a third or additional number, and it came from "oddr", "point of a weapon". Old English "ord" meant the same kind of point, so the two words are doublets, separate descendants of one Germanic root that split into two forms. The Old Norse sense of "third or additional" gave English its numerical odd, the number left over once the others are paired off. Icelandic "oddi" still means both "triangle" and "odd number", and Swedish "udda" keeps the sense of "odd" alone. These cousins show how a physical idea of a projecting tip became a mathematical and then a general notion of something standing apart from the rest.

Synonyms: strange, unusual, peculiar, bizarre, quirky

Antonyms: normal, usual, common, regular, ordinary