odd

English Online Dictionary. What means odd‎? What does odd mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English odde, od (“odd (not even); leftover after division into pairs”), from Old Norse oddi (“odd, third or additional number; triangle”), from oddr (“point of a weapon”), from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to stick, prick, pierce, sting”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to set, place”).

Cognate to Icelandic oddi (“triangle, point of land, odd number”), Swedish udda (“odd”), udd (“a point”), Danish od (“point of weapon””) and odde (“a headland, point”), Norwegian Bokmål odde (“a point”, “odd”, “peculiar”); related to Old English ord (“a point”). Doublet of ord ("point").

Pronunciation

• enPR: ŏd
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑd/
• Rhymes: -ɒd
• Homophone: awed (cot–caught merger)

Adjective

odd (not generally comparable, comparative odder, superlative oddest)

1. Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected.

   Synonyms: unusual, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange

   Antonyms: common, familiar, mediocre; see also Thesaurus:common

   1. Peculiar, singular and strange in looks or character; eccentric, bizarre.
2. (not comparable) Without a corresponding mate in a pair or set; unmatched; (of a pair or set) mismatched.

   Synonyms: single, mismatched

   My cat Fluffy has odd eyes: one blue and one brown.

   • 1822, John Gage, The History and Antiquities of Hengrave, in Suffolk, page 29:

     Itm , lxij almond rivetts.

     *Almain rivetts, a sort of light armour having sleeves of mail, or iron plates, rivetted, with braces for the defence of the arms.

     Itm, one odd back for an almond rivett.

3. (not comparable) Left over, remaining after the rest have been paired or grouped.

4. (not comparable) Left over or remaining (as a small amount) after counting, payment, etc.
5. (not comparable) Scattered; occasional, infrequent; not forming part of a set or pattern.
6. (not comparable) Not regular or planned.

7. (not comparable) Used or employed for odd jobs.
8. (mathematics, not comparable) Numerically indivisible by two.

   Antonym: even
9. (not comparable) Numbered with an odd number.

10. (not comparable, in combination with a number) About, approximately; somewhat more than (an approximated round number).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:approximately

11. Out of the way, secluded.
12. (sports) On the left.

13. (obsolete) Singular in excellence; matchless; peerless; outstanding. [since the 1400s]
    • 1886, Walter William Skeat, The Wars of Alexander: An Alliterative Romance Translated Chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de Preliis, page 120, in (modern English) notes about the Middle English text:

      He goes to Phrygia, and sees Scamander. "Happy are all," he says, "who are honoured by that odd clerk. Homer." In Macedonia, he finds hie mother.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ord
• odds and ends

Translations

Noun

odd (plural odds)

1. (informal) Something left over, not forming part of a set.

2. (mathematics, diminutive) An odd number.

Derived terms

• at odds

Translations

See also

• Odd Rode

Further reading

• Odd in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “odd”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “odd”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• DDO, DOD, DoD, dod

Icelandic

Noun

odd

1. indefinite accusative singular of oddur

Middle English

Adjective

odd

1. Alternative form of odde