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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

sui generis (not comparable)

1. (chiefly 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, volumes (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, John Pye Smith, Four Discourses on the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Jesus Christ: and on Atonement and Redemption, page 67:

     The transcendent case before us is absolutely sui generis.

   • 1874, George P. Marsh, The Earth as Modified by Human Action‎^[1]:

     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, J.L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words:

     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^[2]:

     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.

   • 2024 January 1, Dwight Garner, “Want to Feel, Intellectually, Like Someone Is Rotating Your Tires?”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Hitchens was sui generis. He made most other book reviewers, to borrow Dorothy Parker’s words about the drama critic George Jean Nathan, “look as if they spelled out their reviews with alphabet blocks.”

2. (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

• Dutch: bijzonder (nl), enig in zijn soort
• Esperanto: siaspeca
• German: sui generis (de), eigener Art
• Greek: ιδιόρρυθμος (el) m (idiórrythmos)
• Icelandic: sér á báti, á ekki sinn líka m
• Turkish: nevi şahsına münhasır (tr)

by itself

• French: tout seul (fr) m

Noun

sui generis

1. (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

1. (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^[4], →ISSN:

     Ausgerechnet wir Deutschen, Stellvertreter der Effizienznation sui generis, suchen die Langsamkeit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2020 December 9, Konrad Litschko, “Innenministerkonferenz zu Querdenkern: Neue Härte”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[5], →ISSN:

     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 quotation)

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)

1. sui generis

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed 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)

1. sui generis