odd

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Strange or unusual; different from what you expect.

   It was odd that she left without saying goodbye.

2. 2
   adj

   Of a number, not able to be divided exactly by two.

   One, three and five are odd numbers.

3. 3
   adj

   Not matching others in a pair or set; left over.

   I keep finding odd socks at the bottom of the drawer.

4. 4
   adj

   Occasional; not happening regularly.

   He earns a little money doing odd jobs around the neighbourhood.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Odd comes from Old Norse and first meant “having one left over when divided by two,” as with an odd number. From the idea of something left over came the senses “single” or “solitary,” followed by “strange” or “unusual.” The plural odds was used in betting by the early 16th century and also had an older sense of a difference in advantage or effect.

From Middle English odde, od (“odd (not even); leftover after division into pairs”), from Old Norse oddi (“odd, third or additional number; triangle”), from oddr (“point of a weapon”), from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to stick, prick, pierce, sting”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to set, place”). Cognate to Icelandic oddi (“triangle, point of land, odd number”), Swedish udda (“odd”), udd (“a point”), Danish od (“point of weapon””) and odde (“a headland, point”), Norwegian Bokmål odde (“a point”, “odd”, “peculiar”); related to Old English ord (“a point”). Doublet of ord ("po…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary