Quiddity

Definition: Quiddity

Quiddity

Noun

1. An evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections.

2. The essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "quiddity" was first used: 1539. (references)

Etymology: Quiddity \Quid"di*ty\, noun; plural Quiddities. [Late Latin quidditas, from Latin quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to English who: compare to French quiddit['e].]. (Websters 1913)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Quiddity

Intrinsicality

Noun: intrinsicality, inbeing, inherence, inhesion; subjectiveness; ego; egohood; essence, noumenon; essentialness; Adjective: essential part, quintessence, incarnation, quiddity, gist, pith, marrow, core, sap, lifeblood, backbone, heart, soul; important part; (importance).

Reasoning,

Sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion; chicane, chicanery; quiddet, quiddity; mystification; special pleading; speciousness; Adjective: nonsense; word sense, tongue sense.

Wit

Jest, joke, jape, jibe; facetiae, levity, quips and cranks; capital joke; canorae nugae; standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto, plaisanterie, brilliant idea; merry thought, bright thought, happy thought; sally; flash of wit, flash of merriment; scintillation; mot, mot pour rire; witticism, smart saying, bon-mot,jeu d'esprit,epigram; jest book; dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest.

Crosswords: Quiddity

Books

• On quiddity and essence : an outline of the basic structure of reality in Islamic metaphysics (reference)

• The quiddity of Setofim: a novel (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Albanian

themel (base, bedrock, footing, foundation, foundations, groundwork, juice, radical, reason, substratum, substructure), lojë me fjalë (casuistry, quibble). (various references)

Arabic 

‏جوهر (core, effect, essence, essential nature, gist, immanence, matter, pith, principle, quintessence, root, soul, substance, taproot). (various references)

Bulgarian 

същност (entity, essence, gist, inwardness, juice, kernel, merits, nature, pith, point, reality, self, spirit, sum, thisness), същина (content, core, distillation, essence, gist, guts, heart, inbeing, inside, inwardness, marrow, matter, meat, nub, pith, point, substance, sum and substance, thisness), шикалкавене (fencing, hedging, quibble, quip, runaround, shuffle), каламбур (pun, quibble, wordplay), дребно възражение (quibble). (various references)

Czech

podstatnost. (various references)

German

quiddität, wesen (be present, being, character, creature, entity, essence, gist, grain, kernel, nature, person, soul, temper, thing), spitzfindigkeit (subtleness, subtlety). (various references)

Greek 

λεπτή διαφορά, ουσία (being, entity, essence, gist, marrow, matter, nature, nub, pith, pithiness, quintessence, savor, savour, substance). (various references)

Hungarian

lényeg (burden, elixir, entity, essence, essential, gist, inbeing, kernel, main point, main thing, matter, meat, nature, nub, nuclei, nucleus, pivot, point, substance, tenor, the long and the short). (various references)

Pig Latin

iddityquay

Portuguese

quidade, sutileza capciosa, sofisma (cavil, chicanery, fallacy, fetch, quibble, quip, quirk, sophism, sophistry), a essência de uma coisa. (various references)

Romanian

specific (appropriate, distinctive, individual, note, peculiar, proper, singularity, specific, specifically), esenţã (base, being, bottom, content, core, cream, essence, essential, extract, gist, kernel, kind, marrow, materiality, meat, pith, quintessence, substance, sum), caracteristicã (characteristic, impress, mode, note, parameter, particularity, speciality, specific feature). (various references)

Russian 

сущность (core, entity, essence, essential, essentiality, gist, inwardness, marrow, nature, pith, substance, sum), игра слов (paronomasia, play on words, quibble, wordplay, word-play). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

suština (being, bottom, essence, essentiality, gist, habitude, heart, inwardness, marrow, matter of fact, nub, pith, quintessence, self, soul, substance, substantiality, vitals). (various references)

Spanish

sutileza (finesse, niceness, nicety, quibble, subtlety), esencia (being, core, essence, gist, heart, nature, pith, substance). (various references)

Swedish

innersta väsen (metal). (various references)

Turkish

safsata (casuistry, fallacious, fallacy, flubdub, jesuitry, nonsense, sophism, sophistry), esas (authentic, basal, base, basic, basis, beginnings, broad, central, constitutive, corner stone, element, elemental, essence, extract, footing, fortification, foundation, fundamental, guiding, heartbeat, intrinsic, main, master, nub, parent, pith, pith and marrow, pivotal, postulate, principal, principle, radical, staple, substance, sum, the merits, the nub, ultimate, underlying), özellik (attribute, attribution, cachet, character, characteristic, feature, hall mark, hallmark, idiosyncrasy, particular, particularity, peculiarity, plate-mark, point, property, quality, singularity, special feature, speciality, specialty, stamp, strain, trait), öz (compact, compendious, content, core, cream, distillate, distillation, elixir, entity, epitome, essence, essential oil, extract, extraction, full, genuine, gist, goodness, guts, heartbeat, kernel, marrow, matter, meat, medulla, nucleus, own, pith, pith and marrow, pulp, quick, quintessence, self, soul, stuff, substance, substantiality, substratum, sum, whole), önemsiz konu (side issue). (various references)

Ukrainian

суть (alcohol, backbone, content, core, entity, essence, essential, existence, gist, hinge, inwardness, juice, kernel, marrow, marrowbone, matter, nature, net, nub, pith, point, quid, quintessence, self, soul, spirit, substance), тонкість (delicacy, fineness, finesse, polish, quillet, subtlety), каверза (devilment, quillet). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thực chất lý sự cùn, lời bắt bẻ sợi tóc chẻ tư, bản chất (composition, inbeing, kidney, make-up, nature). (various references)

quid. (various references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-4 letters: didy, duit, duty, quid, quit, tidy.

-5 letters: did, dit, dud, dui, tui, yid.