quirk
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quirk¹
- /kwɜːk/ UK
- /kwɝk/ US
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k
Where it comes from
First attested in the 1540s. Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle English *querk, from Old Norse kverk (“a bend or angle, especially below a cross-beam or below the chin, the bight of an axe", also "throat, gullet”), from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“throat, gullet”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour; maw”). Cognate with Scots querk (“throat", also "any hollow in the body, such as an armpit, groin, instep, etc.”), Icelandic kverk (“interior angle”). Also partially from dialectal quirk, querk (“a whim, fancy, fuss, huff, complaint", also "to peevishly grumble, grunt, sigh, croak, die”), from Middle English querken, *quirken (“to choke”), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to choke, strangle”), from the same origin above. Related to dialectal querken, quirken (“to choke”). Likely not related to queer.
noun quirks
-
An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, a mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone.
The car steers cleanly, but the gearshift has a few quirks.
Similar: foible
- An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a molding and a soffit.
- A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge. Had you no quirk / To avoid gullage, sir, by such a creature?
verb quirks · quirking · quirked
- To (cause to) move with a wry jerk. He quirked an eyebrow.
- To furnish with a quirk or channel.
- To alter in a unique and unusual way. But in the dream the forms are quirked by the peculiar troubles of the dreamer, whereas in myth the problems and solutions shown are directly valid for all mankind.
- To use verbal tricks or quibbles. I have stung her and wrung her, The venom is working;— And if you had hung her With canting and quirking, She could not be deader than she will be soon
quirk²
- /kwɜːk/ UK
- /kwɝk/ US
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k
verb quirks · quirking · quirked
- Alternative form of querk
Quirk³
Where it comes from
Irish and Manx surname, Anglicized from Ó Cuirc (“descendant of Corc”), a personal name derived from curc (“tuft of hair”). It was sometimes Anglicized as Oates due to an erroneous association with coirce (“oats”).
Sometimes also a shortened variant of McGuirk.
proper noun
- A surname. Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) has introduced a bill to address power outages caused by metallic film balloons when they come into contact with powerlines.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: oddity, queerness, crotchet, eccentricity, caprice, whim, fancy, hobby, tic, rod, list, ict, shirley, quirkle, kink, quiddit
Translations
Every language
noun idiosyncrasy
| Español | idiosincrasia, manía, peculiaridad, singularidad, rareza, bizarría |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 歪み yugami, 捩れ nejire, 癖 kuse |
| 中文 | 怪癖 guàipǐ |
| Português | idiossincrasia, peculiaridade, mania |
| Français | bizarrerie, excentricité, maniérisme |
| Deutsch | Schrulle, Marotte |
| Italiano | stranezza |
| Ελληνικά | ιδιοτροπία idiotropía |
| Română | particularitate |
| Русский | причу́да pričúda, особенность osobennostʹ, загоны zagony, тараканы в голове tarakany v golove |
Talk about this word "quirk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/quirk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. quirk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/quirk "quirk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/quirk.Cite this
@misc{quirk_2026,
title = {quirk},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/quirk},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
