particular

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pəˈtɪk.jə.lə/, US /pɚˈtɪk.jə.lɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English particuler,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French particuler (modern French particulier) and directly borrowed from Late Latin particulāris (“of or concerning a part”),^[4][3] from Latin particula (“little part, particle”),^[4][2] a diminutive of pars (“a part”) (genitive partis),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to grant, allot”).^[4] The spelling with -ar was conformed to Latin in the 16th century.^[3][5] It is related to particle and part.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Belonging to a part, not the whole; partial”: before 1387, in Trevisa,^[3] 1387 in the OED;^[6] “relating to a single definite thing or person” is from about 1386.^[6]

Semantic evolution

“Private, personal” is from 1442 (1456 in the OED), now obsolete.^[3][6] “Peculiar, standing out from the ordinary” is by the late 15th century.^[4] The noun meant a part of the body in 1392^[3] and an individual feature or circumstance probably before 1425;^[3] “a single instance” is from the 1530s, and particulars, small details, from about 1600.^[4] In logic a particular proposition is one stated of some members of a class, not all, from 1551.^[6] The Particular Baptists, who held Calvin's doctrine of particular redemption, are from 1717.^[6] “Precise, fastidious, attentive to details” is from 1814, in the Duke of Wellington's dispatches.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – relating to a single thing.^[6]
• before 1387 – partial.^[3]
• 1392 – noun, a body part.^[3]
• 1442 – private, personal.^[3]
• 1530s – noun, a single instance.^[4]
• c. 1600 – particulars, details.^[4]
• 1814 – fastidious.^[3][4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Belonging to one person, group or thing, not general: my particular interest.
2. Separate and distinct from others; specific.
3. Unusual; worth noting: of particular importance.
4. Paying close attention to details; fussy.
5. (logic) Of a proposition, applying to some but not all members of a class.

Noun

1. An individual item, fact or detail: the particulars of the case.
2. (in particular) Especially.

Word family

• overparticular
• particularization
• unparticular
• particularism
• particularity
• particularize
• particularly
• particular average

Related words

• universal
• particle
• part
• parcel
• partial

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press