quiddity

noun /ˈkwɪdɪti/

1. The essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.

   countable, uncountable

   A tub of butter, contemplated by him, amounts to a Platonic idea. He understands a leg of mutton in its quiddity. He stands wondering, amid the commonplace materials of life, like primæval man, with the sun and stars about him.

2. A trifle; a nicety or quibble.

   countable, uncountable

3. An eccentricity; an odd feature.

   countable, uncountable

   They have ſwallowed and digeſted all the Fathers, the Codes, Provincials, Decretals, Pandects, Councils, Canons ; are Maſters of all the Schoolmen, not to fill their Heads and ſtuff their Writings with Quiddities and Quoddities, and far-fetched unintelligible Diſtinctions, but to be able to reaſon cloſely, to argue ſolidly, to rebuke, to confute, to reply, to rejoind, to ſyllogize, to criticize, to apologize, to advertize, to ſermonize, to decypherize, to――

Where it comes from

From Middle English quidite, from Old French quidité, and its source, Late Latin quidditās, from Latin quid (“what”) + -itas (“-ness”) (whence -ity).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry quiddity (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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