peculiar

Peculiar is an English adjective with several related senses. The most common meaning is odd or unusual: for example, a peculiar habit or a peculiar smell. It can also describe something distinctive or characteristic of a particular person, place, or group: a dialect peculiar to the region.

A more specialized, older sense refers to something that belongs exclusively to a given jurisdiction or private property, often used in historical or ecclesiastical contexts. In such uses, peculiar denotes something private or separate from the ordinary system.

Etymology and sense development: peculiar comes from Latin peculiaris meaning private or particular, through Old French peculier. The root pecul- is connected to private property, and the word shifted from “one’s own” to “private or distinctive,” with the sense of “strange” arising in Middle English through figurative extension.

Usage notes: In modern use, peculiar often carries a mild to moderate sense of oddness, but it can be neutral or even favorable when describing distinctive traits. The phrase peculiar to is common to express that something is unique to a place or group, as in “this plant is peculiar to the island.” The term is generally more precise than “weird” and should be chosen when signaling particularity rather than mere oddity.

See also: odd, strange, unusual, distinctive, idiosyncrasy, peculiarity.