peculiar

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Strange or unusual in a way that is hard to explain.

   There was a peculiar smell coming from the kitchen.

2. 2
   adj

   Belonging only to one particular person, place, or thing.

   This style of cooking is peculiar to the south of the country.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Peculiar derives from Latin peculium, “private property,” itself related to pecu, “cattle, farm animals.” Its early English senses included “specific to a person” and “unlike others”; the meaning “strange” or “odd” appeared only in the early 17th century.

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

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary