sui generis
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin suī generis (literally “of its own kind/class”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /suˑ.i ˈɡɛnɛɹɪs/, /sʊɪ d͡ʒəˈnɛɹɪs/
Adjective
sui generis (not comparable)
- (often law) In a class of its own; one of a kind.
- Synonyms: one of a kind, unique, original
- 1821–1822, William Hazlitt, “Character of Cobbett”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Warren; Henry Colburn and Co.:
- It is easy to describe second-rate talents, because they fall into a class and enlist under a standard; but first-rate powers defy calculation or comparison, and can be defined only by themselves. They are sui generis, and make the class to which they belong.
- 1828, Four Discourses on the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Jesus Christ: and on Atonement and Redemption, by John Pye Smith, page 67
- The transcendent case before us is absolutely sui generis.
- 1874, George P. Marsh, The Earth as Modified by Human Action:
- The eminent Italian geologist, Stoppani, goes further than I had ventured to do, and treats the action of man as a new physical clement altogether sui generis.
- 1994, Frances and Joseph Gies, “The Technology of the Commercial Revolution”, in Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, →ISBN, page 111:
- The system was neither free enterprise nor socialism; it was sui generis, one of the unique creations of the Middle Ages.
- 1995, How To Do Things With Words, by J.L. Austin
- We see him as he sees himself, surveying the invisible depths of ethical space, with all the distinction of a specialist in the sui generis.
- 2015 August 6, Leslie Felperin, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl review – a scaldingly honest coming-of-age comedy”, in The Guardian:
- Based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s remarkable, sui generis semi-autobiographical graphic novel, […]
- 2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 11, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:
- The basic operational mechanisms and business practices were so new and strange, so utterly sui generis, that all we could see was a gaggle of “innovative” horseless carriages.
- (rarer) By itself; of its own.
- Synonym: per se
- It is nothing to worry about sui generis, but in context of the other factors it's alarming indeed.
Translations
in a class of its own
|
by itself
|
Noun
sui generis
- (proscribed) A thing apart, an isolated specimen.
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
German
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin suī generis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈzuː.i ˈɡeːnəʁɪs/, /ˈzʊɪ̯-/, /-ˈɡɛnəʁɪs/
Audio (file)
Adverb
sui generis
- (sciences, law, higher register, postpositive) sui generis (forming a class of its own)
- Synonym: eigener Art
- 2017 November 19, Michael Brake, “Vom Glück, für sich alleine zu kochen: Me, myself and Ei”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz, ISSN 0931-9085:
- Ausgerechnet wir Deutschen, Stellvertreter der Effizienznation sui generis, suchen die Langsamkeit.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2020 December 9, Konrad Litschko, “Innenministerkonferenz zu Querdenkern: Neue Härte”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz, ISSN 0931-9085:
- Eine Abgrenzung zu diesen finde kaum statt, deren Aussagen würden „verleugnet oder als unproblematisch“ bewertet. Durch die Vermischung verschiedener Ideologien könne ein neuer Extremismus „sui generis“ entstehen.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Further reading
- “sui generis” in Duden online
- “sui generis” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin suī generis (literally “of one's own type”).
Adjective
sui generis (invariable)
- sui generis
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin suī generis (literally “of its (own) kind”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌswi ˈxeneɾis/ [ˌswi ˈxe.ne.ɾis]
- Syllabification: sui ge‧ne‧ris
Adjective
sui generis (invariable)
- sui generis