heteroclite

See also: hétéroclite

English

Etymology

From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛtəɹəʊklaɪt/

Adjective

heteroclite (comparative more heteroclite, superlative most heteroclite)

1. (grammar) Irregularly declined or inflected.
2. (dated) Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal.
   • 1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 24:

     he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together.

   • 1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XLVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281:

     Nor could I have dreamed the heteroclite crew-men I had met aboard Tzadkiel's ship […]

Translations

eccentric, abnormal

• Bulgarian: анормален (bg) m (anormalen)
• French: anormal (fr), hétéroclite (fr)
• German: Heteroklit m
• Portuguese: heteróclito (pt)
• Spanish: heteróclito (es)

irregularly declined

• Bulgarian: неправилен (bg) (nepravilen)
• French: hétéroclite (fr)

See also

• eclectic

Noun

heteroclite (plural heteroclites)

1. (grammar) An irregularly declined or inflected word.
2. (linguistics) A word whose etymological roots come from distinct, different languages or language groups.
3. A person who is unconventional; a maverick.

Synonyms

• (unconventional person): free spirit, individualist, nonconformist; see also Thesaurus:maverick

Related terms

• heteroclitic

Further reading

• “heteroclite”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “heteroclite, a. and n.”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• heterotelic

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /he.teˈro.kli.te/, [hɛt̪ɛˈrɔklʲɪt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.teˈro.kli.te/, [et̪eˈrɔːklit̪e]

Adjective

heteroclite

1. vocative masculine singular of heteroclitus