Quiddity

Word to the Wise: Quiddity

“Quiddity” (KWID-ih-tee) – from the Latin for “what” – is the essential nature of a thing, the quality that makes it what it is.

Example (as used by Bill Strickland in a New York Times review of Off the Deep End by W. Hodding Carter): “Reading about a subculture like swimming provides an opportunity to appreciate the idiosyncratic details and quiddity of the sport.”

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