Monday, April 15, 2013

Sunday Word Study: quiddity

(Sorry this is a day late. It didn't seem to want to post correctly.)

quiddity: the essential quality of a thing; a trifling distinction, quibble

< Middle French quiddité < Late Latin quidditas < Latin quid "what" + -itas "-ness"

2 comments:

  1. Good word! I like how it means two sort of opposite things: an essential quality AND a trifling distinction.

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    1. Auto-antonyms are great! (My personal favorite being "cleave")

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