quiddity Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections
    cavil; quibble.
  2. noun the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other
    haecceity.

WordNet

Quid"di*ty noun
Etymology
LL. quidditas, fr. L. quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F. quiddité.
Wordforms
plural Quiddities
Definitions
  1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it? " The degree of nullity and quiddity." Bacon.
    The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. De Quincey.
  2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble.
    We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge.

Webster 1913