quirk

Meaning

Noun

1. An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, a 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 molding and a soffit.
3. (archaic) A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To (cause to) move with a wry jerk.
2. (transitive) To furnish with a quirk or channel.
3. To alter in a unique and unusual way.
4. (archaic, intransitive) To use verbal tricks or quibbles.

Verb

Alternative form of querk.

Synonyms

vagary

idiosyncrasy

peculiarity

eccentricity

foible

whim

oddity

caper

crotchet

subterfuge

trick

queerness

quibble

quirkiness

mock

jeer

kink

whimsy

fancy

feature

fluting

frailty

freak

funniness

furrow

gash

groove

individualism

loophole

maggot

maneuver

mannerism

manoeuvre

moodiness

oddball

oddness

pipe dream

prevarication

prise

pun

ruff

ruse

rut

screw up

shift

singularity

sleight

stall

tergiversation

tick

Translations

bizarrerie

idiossincrasia

peculiaridad

ιδιοτροπία

Eigenart

Spleen

idiosincrasia

υπεκφυγή

Eigenheit

manía

excentricité

maniérisme

Schrulle

caprice

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kwɜːk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: *querk

Cognate with Scots: querk

Cognate with Icelandic: kverk

Inherited from Middle English: querken

In summary

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.