heteroclite

[ het-er-uh-klahyt ]

adjective

1. irregular or abnormal; anomalous.
2. Grammar. irregular in inflection; having inflected forms belonging to more than one class of stems.

noun

1. a person or thing that deviates from the ordinary rule or form.
2. Grammar. a heteroclite word.

heteroclite

/ ˈhɛtərəˌklaɪt /

adjective

1. (esp of the form of a word) irregular or unusual

noun

1. an irregularly formed word

Word History and Origins

Origin of heteroclite¹

1570–80; < Middle French < Late Latin heteroclitus < Greek heteróklitos, equivalent to hetero- hetero- + -klitos, verbid of klī́nein to bend, inflect

Word History and Origins

Origin of heteroclite¹

C16: from Late Latin heteroclitus declining irregularly, from Greek heteroklitos, from hetero- + klinein to bend, inflect

Example Sentences

Heterogeneous nouns may at the same time be heteroclites, as in case of the first two examples above.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• aberrant
• anomalous
• atypical
• bizarre
• exceptional
• extraordinary
• irregular
• odd
• peculiar
• strange
• uncommon
• unexpected
• unnatural
• unusual
• weird