different between unique vs haecceity

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French unique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ju??ni?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Adjective

unique (comparative uniquer or more unique, superlative uniquest or most unique)

1. (not comparable) Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.

   Synonyms: one of a kind, sui generis, singular

2. Of a feature, such that only one holder has it.
3. Particular, characteristic.
4. (proscribed) Of a rare quality, unusual.

Usage notes

• The comparative and superlative forms uniquer or more unique and uniquest or most unique, as well as the use of unique with modifiers as in fairly unique and very unique, are grammatically proscribed, with the reasoning that either something is unique or it is not.

Derived terms

• uniquely
• uniqueness
• uniquity

Related terms

• unicity
• one-of-a-kind
• inimitable

Translations

Noun

unique (plural uniques)

1. A thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled; one of a kind.
   • a. 1859, Thomas De Quincey, Language

     The phoenix, the unique of birds.

Translations

Further reading

• unique in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• unique in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “unique” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nicus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.nik/

Adjective

unique (plural uniques)

1. unique
2. only

Derived terms

Related terms

• un

Descendants

• ? Danish: unik
• ? Dutch: uniek
• ? Norwegian Bokmål: unik
• ? Norwegian Nynorsk: unik
• ? Swedish: unik
• ? Turkish: ünik

Further reading

• “unique” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin haecceitas (“thisness”) coined by Duns Scotus (from haec (“this, these”)) +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /h?k?si?.?.ti?/, /hi?k?si?.?.ti?/
• Hyphenation: haec?ce?i?ty

Noun

haecceity (countable and uncountable, plural haecceities)

1. (philosophy) The essence of a particular thing that gives it its unique particularity; those qualities that make an individual this specific individual and not some other.

Alternative forms

• hæcceity (rare, archaic)

Synonyms

• thisness

Related terms

• haecceitic
• haecceitism
• haecceitist
• haecceitistic
• haecceitistically

Translations

See also

• hupokeimenon
• noumenon
• quiddity

Further reading

• haecceity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia