quirk

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Etymonline and Weekley suggest a connection with German quer (“across, slanting”), the source of queer, through the notion of twisting,^[8][9] but Etymonline notes that the word's early appearance in the dialects of western England argues against it, and suggests it was first a technical term for a twist or flourish in weaving.^[8] Partridge thought it probably Scandinavian, comparing a Norwegian word for the throat,^[10] and Wiktionary similarly proposes Old Norse kverk (“angle below the chin; throat”), from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“throat”).^[1][11] Skeat derived it from Middle Dutch kuerken (“a cunning trick”), a diminutive of kure (“whim”), from French cure and Latin cūra.^[12] Johnson could find "no rational derivation".^[13] The OED notes that the Welsh word for the clock of a stocking, recorded in 1547, seems to come from the English word.^[2] The verb is formed from the noun.^[2][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A verbal twist or evasion; a quibble, a piece of sophistry: 1565, in Stapleton's Fortresse of Faith.^[2][14] The Oxford Dictionary of English dates the verb to the early 16th century.^[15][6]

Semantic evolution

The idea common to the senses is a twist or turn.^[2][5] From verbal tricks and quibbles (1565) the word passed to a witty remark or quip (1600), and in music to a sudden change of rhythm or melody (1579, now obsolete).^[2] Shakespeare used it for a sudden fit of emotion, "quirks of joy and grief", which Johnson quoted.^[2][13] The modern sense, a peculiarity of character or behaviour, is first recorded in Twelfth Night,^[2][14] and the physical sense of a twist, bend or flourish in Ben Jonson (1601).^[2][14] In the 19th century it came to mean an irregularity or unexpected feature of a process (1807) and a sudden jerk or twitch (1826).^[2] Technical senses grew up beside these: the ornamental clock of a stocking (1583), a gusset in a glove (1688) and a groove in an architectural moulding.^[2][16][7] In the dialects of Cheshire, Shropshire and Somerset quirk was still the clock of a stocking, and in western Yorkshire and Somerset the curl of a pig's tail;^[16] in Scotland it meant a trick or quibble, especially of the law.^[16] A separate dialect verb quirk, to grunt, groan or complain, used in southern and western England since 1746, is apparently imitative.^[2][16][6] In First World War slang a quirk was a trainee airman (1916) or a training aeroplane (1917), perhaps a special use of the same noun.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1565 – a verbal twist or evasion, a quibble.^[2][14]
• 1579 – a sudden change of rhythm or melody in music (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1583 – the decorative clock on a stocking.^[2]
• 1596 – verb, to attack someone with quips (now obsolete).^[2][14]
• 1600 – a witty remark, a quip.^[2]
• 1601 – a twist, bend or flourish.^[2]
• 1601 – a peculiarity of character or behaviour, in Twelfth Night; the OED dates the play's text before 1616.^[14][2]
• 1797 – verb, to cut a groove in a moulding.^[2]
• 1806 – quirky, full of quirks.^[14]
• 1807 – an irregularity or anomaly in a process.^[2]
• 1821 – verb, to move suddenly or jerkily, in Clare.^[2][14]
• 1916 – a trainee airman, in air force slang.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A peculiarity of character or behaviour; a mannerism or foible: Her habit of humming while she reads is one of her quirks.^[7][4][2]
2. An unexpected twist or turn of events; an anomaly: By a quirk of the calendar, the holiday fell on a Monday twice.^[7][2]
3. A sudden turn, bend or curve; a flourish in handwriting or drawing.^[7][4][2]
4. A narrow groove in an architectural moulding.^[7][4][2]
5. A clever evasion or quibble; also a witty retort.^[4][2]
6. (dialect) The decorative clock on the side of a stocking; also a small gusset at the base of the fingers of a glove.^[4][2][16]

Verb

1. To twist or curve suddenly: A smile quirked the corner of his mouth.^[4][2][6]
2. To give a quirk to; to cut a groove in a moulding.^[4][2][6]

Word family

• quirkily
• quirkiness
• quirky
• quirkish

Related words

• queer

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
15. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ a b c d e Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)