FROM THE ARCHIVEFriday, October 16, 2026
quiddity
KWID-i-tee/ˈkwɪdɪti//noun
01 / MEANING
The essential nature of a thing: the quality that makes it what it is.
In a sentence.
- 01
The chef argued that simplicity was the quiddity of the dish.
- 02
Her sketch caught the quiddity of the old harbor.
Where it came from.
Quiddity came through French from Late Latin quidditās, formed from quid, ‘what,’ and a suffix meaning ‘-ness.’ Philosophers used it to ask what a thing is.
Explore the sourceWhy it’s interesting.
Its roots turn a large philosophical question into a small one: the ‘whatness’ of a thing.