quirk

See also: Quirk

English

Etymology

First attested in the 1540s. Of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɜːk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)k

Noun

quirk (plural quirks)

1. an idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone

   The car steers cleanly, but the gearshift has a few quirks.

2. (architecture) An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a moulding and a soffit
3. (archaic) A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.
   • Ben Jonson

     Had you no quirk / To avoid gullage, sir, by such a creature?

Derived terms

• quirkish
• quirkless
• quirks mode
• quirky

Translations

idiosyncrasy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怪癖 (zh) (guàipǐ)

• Czech: výstřednost, potrhlost
• Dutch: gril (nl), rariteit (nl), nuk (nl)
• Esperanto: strangaĵo
• Finnish: oikku (fi), omituisuus (fi)
• French: bizarrerie (fr) f, excentricité (fr) m, maniérisme (fr) m
• Georgian: სიუცნაურე (siucnaure), უცნაურობა (ucnauroba)
• German: Schrulle (de) f, Marotte (de) f
• Greek: ιδιοτροπία (el) f (idiotropía)
• Indonesian: kekocakan
• Italian: stranezza (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 歪み (ja) (ゆがみ, yugami), 捩れ (ねじれ, nejire), 癖 (ja) (くせ, kuse)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: innfall (no)

• Polish: dziwactwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: idiossincrasia (pt) f, peculiaridade (pt) f, mania (pt) f
• Romanian: particularitate (ro) f
• Russian: причу́да (ru) f (pričúda)
• Spanish: idiosincrasia (es) f, manía (es) f, peculiaridad (es) f
• Swedish: egendomlighet (sv) c, besynnerlighet (sv), underlighet (sv) c, egenhet (sv) c
• Turkish: gariplik (tr)

Verb

quirk (third-person singular simple present quirks, present participle quirking, simple past and past participle quirked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To move with a wry jerk.

   He quirked an eyebrow.

   The corners of her mouth quirked.

2. (transitive, architecture) To furnish with a quirk or channel.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To use verbal tricks or quibbles
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     I have stung her and wrung her,
     The venom is working;—
     And if you had hung her
     With canting and quirking,
     She could not be deader than she will be soon