peculiar

From Latin pecūliāris (“one's own”), from pecūlium (“private property”), from pecus (“cattle”).[1]

• IPA^(key): /pəˈkjuːl.jʊəɹ/
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [pʰəˈkʰjuːl.jʊə]

    • Audio (UK)

      (file)

  • (US) IPA^(key): [pʰəˈkʰjul.jʊɹ̠], [pʰəˈkʰjul.jɚ]

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

peculiar (comparative more peculiar, superlative most peculiar)

1. Out of the ordinary; odd; strange; unusual.

   The sky had a peculiar appearance before the storm.

   It would be rather peculiar to see a kangaroo hopping down a city street.

   • 1800, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Deseret Weekly, volume 41, page 379:

     I saw nothing peculiar in his conduct, and thought that his arrangement of the ballot box was perfect.

   • 2001, Schaefer, Jack; Minor, Wendell, Shane:

     "Wasn't it peculiar," I heard mother say, "How he wouldn't talk about himself?"
     "Peculiar?" said father. "Well, yes, in a way."
     "Everything about him is peculiar." Mother sounded as if she was stirred up and interested. "I never saw a man quite like him before."

   • 2008, Arnott, Stephen, Peculiar Proverbs: Weird Words of Wisdom from Around the World:

   Synonyms: odd, strange, uncommon, unusual

   Antonyms: common, mediocre, ordinary, usual

2. Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.

   Kangaroos are peculiar to Australia.

   • 1855, Meiklejohn, John Miller Dow, transl., Critique of Pure Reason, volume 1, division 2, translation of Critik der reinen Vernunft by Immanuel Kant:

     This philosopher found his ideas especially in all that is practical,^[29] that is, which rests upon freedom, which in its turn ranks under cognitions that are the peculiar product of reason.

   • 1863, Thomas Huxley, Collected Essays:

     As soon as that operation has taken place, the food is passed down to the stomach, and there it is mixed with the chemical fluid called the gastric juice, a substance which has the peculiar property of making soluble and dissolving out the nutritious matter in the grass, and leaving behind those parts which are not nutritious;

   • 1895, Wallace, Alfred Russel, “XX: Anomalous Islands: Celebes”, in Island Life:

     But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it [Iceland] is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar, and at least three peculiar species of birds.

   Synonym: specific

   Antonyms: common, general, universal

3. (dated) One's own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not shared or possessed by others.
   • 1769, King James Bible, Titus ii. 14:

     Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

   • 1597, Hooker, Richard, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie:

     hymns […] that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself

4. (dated) Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
   • 1629, Milton, John, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity:

     while each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat

   • 1697, Dryden, John, transl., Aeneid, translation of Aeneis by Virgil:

     My fate is Juno's most peculiar care.

• (out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:strange
• (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): see also Thesaurus:specific

• (out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:normal
• (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): see also Thesaurus:generic

peculiar (plural peculiars)

1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
   • before 1716, Robert South, Twelve Sermons

     If anything can legalize revenge, it should be injury from an extremely obliged person; but revenge is so absolutely the peculiar of heaven.

2. (UK, canon law) an ecclesiastical district, parish, chapel or church outside the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese in which it is situated.

• peculiar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Peculiar in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• pericula

From Latin pecūliāris.

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /pə.ku.liˈa/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pe.ku.liˈaɾ/

peculiar (masculine and feminine plural peculiars)

1. peculiar

• peculiarment

• peculiaritat

• “peculiar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “peculiar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “peculiar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “peculiar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Latin pecūliāris.

• Hyphenation: pe‧cu‧li‧ar

peculiar m or f (plural peculiares)

1. peculiar; unusual; strange

   Synonyms: esquisito, estranho

2. peculiar (common or usual for a particular place or circumstance)

   Synonym: particular

• peculiaridade

• “peculiar” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “peculiar” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “peculiar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “peculiar” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2023.
• “peculiar” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “peculiar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from Latin pecūliāris.

• IPA^(key): /pekuˈljaɾ/ [pe.kuˈljaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pe‧cu‧liar

peculiar (plural peculiares)

1. peculiar

• peculiarmente

• “peculiar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014