eccentric

Etymology

Recorded from the early 15th century,^[1] originally a term of Ptolemaic astronomy.^[1] From Middle English eccentrik (“orbit not centred on the earth”),^[2][1] borrowed from Medieval Latin eccentricus,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek ἔκκεντρος (ékkentros, “out of the centre”),^[1][4] from ek “out of” + kéntron “centre”.^[3][4]

Of persons, the figurative sense “odd, whimsical” is first recorded in the 1620s,^[1] and the noun “odd or whimsical person” by 1817.^[1]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press