quiddity

noun

Plural: quiddities

The inner nature of something that makes it distinguishable from other things; the essence.

Examples:

—Some erudite experiments?— undertook Mam finally, as Doctor Barton was not returning from his deep mental immersion.
—Believe me, I would like to know the exact quiddity of this too... Friend Kalidon's gift, that's for sure. Sent without a hintiest forehint of explanation. Beyond this, we only have an undateable folktale of challengeable factuality: The last time an oddness like this was mentioned, four people were said to have disappeared. No time to solve one mystery, and another contending case is already creeping in... (Context: Doctor Barton is examining a strange plant his old friend sent him. Nobody can understand what it actually is. Source: J∙ Okram - The Mystery of the Rammed Key.)

Translations:

Slovak / Slovenčina (SK): podstata

Czech / Čeština (CZ): podstata

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Julion Okram's Word Explainer is a concise dictionary of uncommon, less standard and expert words appearing in mystery thrillers and science fiction adventures. It contains little-known or fictional geographical names, scientific terms, slang, professional jargons, archaisms, dialects, neologisms, composite expressions, etc⋅. Find word definitions, alternative meanings, occasional notes about etymology and stems, and story-related contextual remarks. The entire vocabulary is searchable online. Readers wishing to go offline or have a printed reference at hand can download this full glossary as a wordbook in PDF format.