quirk

Meaning

1. An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone.
2. An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a moulding and a soffit.
3. A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.

vagary

idiosyncrasy

vain hope

pecuiarity

line of fate

folley

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kwɜːk/

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.

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