eccentric

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Behaving in a strange or unusual way; unconventional.

   Her eccentric uncle kept a pet parrot that rode on his shoulder.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who behaves in a strange or unusual way.

   The old artist was a well-known eccentric in the village.

3. 3
   adj

   Not perfectly circular; following an uneven path.

   The comet travels in a highly eccentric orbit around the sun.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Eccentric comes from Greek ekkentros, formed from ek, “out of,” and kentron, “center.” It first had an astronomical sense, describing a circle or orbit with the earth away from its precise center, and developed the figurative meaning “unconventional or strange” in the mid-17th century.

From Middle French excentrique, from Medieval Latin eccentricus, from Ancient Greek ἔκκεντρος (ékkentros, “not having the earth as the center of an orbit”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) + κέντρον (kéntron, “point”). Equivalent to ex- + -centric.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary