Behaving in a way that is unusual or strange compared to what most people do.
From Medieval Latin 'eccentricus' meaning 'out of the center', from Greek 'ekkentros' ('ek' out + 'kentron' center). It first described off-center circles in astronomy, then shifted to off-center behavior.
An eccentric person is literally 'off-center' from the crowd in the word’s history. Many inventors and artists were called eccentric before their ideas became the new normal.
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