Peculiar means strange in a way you cannot quite put your finger on. Not shocking, not funny — just off. A peculiar smell in the hallway, a peculiar look from the man behind the counter, a peculiar taste in the milk that sends you to check the date.
There is an older use that catches learners out: peculiar TO means belonging to one person, place or group and to nobody else. A dialect peculiar to the north coast; a fault peculiar to that model of engine. Nothing odd about it — there it means exclusive. The noun is peculiarity, which is either a strange habit or a distinguishing feature, and the adverb peculiarly leans towards the strange side. British speakers also say 'I feel a bit peculiar', meaning faintly unwell or light-headed.
1adjectivepeculiarStrange or odd in a way that is hard to explain.
“There was a peculiar silence in the office that morning, as if everyone already knew.”
2adjectivebelongingBelonging exclusively to one person, place or group; found nowhere else.
“The bird is peculiar to two small islands off the coast.”
3adjectiveslightlySlightly unwell, faint or light-headed (chiefly British).
“I came over all peculiar on the bus and had to get off two stops early.”
Also accepted in games: odd
Peculiar began as Latin peculiaris, one's own, from peculium, private property — and peculium came from pecus, cattle, because a Roman's private wealth was counted in animals. Your own cattle became your own anything, and then the quality that belongs to you and no one else. From there it slipped one more step: what belongs to you alone looks odd to everybody else.
Proto-Indo-European
*peḱ-
Latin
pecūliāris — one's own
English, today
peculiar
Built from
From Latin pecūliāris (“one's own”), from pecūlium (“private property”), from pecus (“cattle”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Adjectives, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word