heteroclite en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈhɛtəɹəʊklaɪt/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.
Meanings
- Irregularly declined or inflected.
-
(dated) Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal.
he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together.
1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 24:Nor could I have dreamed the heteroclite crew-men I had met aboard Tzadkiel's ship […]
1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XLVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most heteroclite | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more heteroclite | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Translations (10)
fr hétéroclite (eccentric, abnormal) · pt heteróclito (eccentric, abnormal) · bg анормален (eccentric, abnormal) · sv oregelbunden (irregularly declined) · de Heteroklit (eccentric, abnormal) · fr anormal (eccentric, abnormal) · es heteróclito (eccentric, abnormal) · fr hétéroclite (irregularly declined) · bg неправилен (irregularly declined) · sv heteroklitisk (irregularly declined)