Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 6, 2004
sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\
, adjective:
Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.
This man, in fact, was sui generis, a true original.
-- Ruth Lord, Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur
They're a special case, a category of their own, sui generis.
-- Eric Kraft, Leaving Small's Hotel
William Randolph Hearst did not speak often of his father. He preferred to think of himself as sui generis and self-created, which in many ways he was.
-- David Nasaw, The Chief
Sui generis is from Latin, literally meaning "of its own kind": sui, "of its own" + generis, genitive form of genus, "kind."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for sui generis
