Idiosyncrasy

How to spell idiosyncrasy

12 letters · 6 syllables

323 of the 389 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

• idiosyncracy151 people
• idiosynchrosy15 people
• idiosyncrocy12 people
• idiocincracy11 people
• idiosincracy10 people
• idiosyncrisy10 people

How to pronounce idiosyncrasy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does idiosyncrasy mean?

1. nounA distinctive habit, quirk, or way of behaving peculiar to a particular person or thing.

Idiosyncrasy in a sentence

• His idiosyncrasy is wearing mismatched socks.

• His habit of arriving early is just an idiosyncrasy.

• 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)

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