Idiosyncrasy
nounA distinctive habit, quirk, or way of behaving peculiar to a particular person or thing.
How to spell idiosyncrasy
12 letters · 6 syllables
2,043 of the 2,481 people asked to spell idiosyncrasy in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.
The most common mistake is idiosyncracy. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.
idiosyncracy
idiosyncrasy
What people typed instead
idiosyncracy705 peopleidiocincracy76 peopleidiosincracy66 peopleidiosyncrocy59 peopleidiosynchrosy57 peopleidiosyncrosy55 people
How to pronounce idiosyncrasy
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does idiosyncrasy mean?
- nounA distinctive habit, quirk, or way of behaving peculiar to a particular person or thing.
Idiosyncrasy in a sentence
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His idiosyncrasy is wearing mismatched socks.
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His habit of arriving early is just an idiosyncrasy.
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Each language has its own idiosyncrasy.
Where does idiosyncrasy come from?
Language of origin: Greek
This word comes from the Greek idiosynkrasia, which described a person's particular blend or temperament. It was assembled from three pieces: idios meaning 'one's own' or 'private', syn meaning 'together', and krasis meaning 'a mixing' or 'blending'. The literal sense was therefore 'a peculiar mixture', originally referring to the mix of bodily humours that ancient medicine believed shaped each individual's constitution. English borrowed it in the early 1600s, at first as a medical term for a personal physical sensitivity, before it broadened to mean any quirk of character or behaviour. The same idios root survives in 'idiom' and 'idiot' (originally a private person), and the buried krasis is exactly why the spelling ends with the surprising -crasy rather than the expected -cracy of 'democracy'.
How the word is built
- idio- (own, personal)
- syn- (together)
- crasis (mixing, blending)
- -y (noun)
People who misspell idiosyncrasy also struggle with
Of the Spelling Garden players who got idiosyncrasy wrong the first time, this is how many also got each of these wrong.
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