Other forms: quirks
A quirk is a small odd habit that makes somebody who they are. A charming quirk, personal quirks, quirks of character.
It is affectionate: quirks are the harmless oddities you accept in somebody you like, and the same behaviour called a quirk in a friend is called a problem in a stranger. A quirk of fate is a small chance turn. Note quirky; and that the origin of the word is unknown.
1nounquirkA small odd habit that makes somebody who they are.
“One of his quirks is that he always eats his dessert first.”
2nounstrangeA strange turn of chance.
“By a quirk of fate, the two old friends ended up on the same plane.”
quirk is an oddity.
Also accepted in games: peculiarity
Quirk first appears in the 1540s and its origin is unknown. A Norse word for a bend has been suggested.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷerh₃- — to devour; maw
Proto-Germanic
*kwerkō — throat, gullet
Old Norse
kverk — a bend or angle, especially below a cross-beam or below the chin, the bight of an axe", also "throat, gullet
Middle English
*querk
English, today
quirk
First attested in the 1540s. Of unknown origin. Possibly from Middle English querk, from Old Norse kverk (“a bend or angle, especially below a cross-beam or below the chin, the bight of an axe", also "throat, gullet”), from Proto-Germanic kwerkō (“throat, gullet”), from Proto-Indo-European gʷerh₃- (“to devour; maw”). Cognate with Scots querk (“throat", also "any hollow in the body, such as an armpit, groin, instep, etc.”), Icelandic kverk (“interior angle”). Also partially from dialectal quirk, querk (“a whim, fancy, fuss, huff, complaint", also "to peevishly grumble, grunt, sigh, croak, die”), from Middle English querken, quirken (“to choke”), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to choke, strangle”), from the same origin above. Related to dialectal querken (“to choke”). Likely not related to queer.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
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