idiosyncrasy

American  

[id-ee-uh-sing-kruh-see, -sin-] / ˌɪd i əˈsɪŋ krə si, -ˈsɪn- /

noun

idiosyncrasies plural

1. a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual.

   Synonyms:

   quirk, peculiarity

2. the physical constitution peculiar to an individual.

3. a peculiarity of the physical or the mental constitution, especially susceptibility toward drugs, food, etc.

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idiosyncrasy British  

/ ˌɪdɪəʊˈsɪŋkrəsɪ /

noun

1. a tendency, type of behaviour, mannerism, etc, of a specific person; quirk

2. the composite physical or psychological make-up of a specific person

3. an abnormal reaction of an individual to specific foods, drugs, or other agents

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Synonym Usage

See eccentricity.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• idiosyncratic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• idiosyncrasies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of idiosyncrasy

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Greek idiosynkrāsía, equivalent to idio- idio- + syn- syn- + krâs(is) “a blending” + -ia -y ³

Explanation

If a person has an idiosyncrasy, he or she has a little quirk, or a funny behavior, that makes him or her different. If you only say goodbye in French, never in English, that would be an idiosyncrasy. Idio seems like it means stupid, but really it is Latin for "one's own," as an idiosyncrasy is one's own particular, usually odd, behavior. Putting salt in your hot chocolate or needing the light on to sleep or tapping your head while you think are all idiosyncrasies. A machine such as a DVD player has an idiosyncrasy if you have to do something weird to it to make it work like having to bang it on the back left-hand side to stop it from skipping.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

idiosyncrasy idiosyncrasies

Indeed, the very features that make gifts inefficient as market transactions—surprise, idiosyncrasy, miscalibration—are often what make them meaningful as social gestures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

The headline proposal of the reforms is the removal of the not proven verdict - a legal idiosyncrasy that can be traced back to the 17th Century.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2025

And “country,” the hands-down favorite music of “real Americans,” has long been a production-line item with as much idiosyncrasy in the songs as Olive Garden breadsticks.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2025

Predictably, the showrunners resolve the book’s ambivalence by closing in on the crime story, sacrificing much of its idiosyncrasy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2023

In whose view inadequacy was mere idiosyncrasy, a character trait rather than a deficiency?

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison

Anne Robinson from Dunbarton has first-hand knowledge of EES and its idiosyncrasies - to the point it has put her off returning to Europe this year.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

And that might get personal: the astronauts laughed when asked what idiosyncrasies they feared their crewmates might discover.

From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026

I asked Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini to outline their own stylistic tics and idiosyncrasies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026

Really loving someone means appreciating their idiosyncrasies, like “their little 11 line or a little crooked tooth — these little imperfections that become so beautiful to you.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2025

They had to learn to recognize the same sound or speech unit through all our normal variations in speech volume, pitch, speed, emphasis, phrase grouping, and individual idiosyncrasies of pronunciation.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• eccentricity
• mannerism
• peculiarity
• trait