Peculiar (meaning)

The adjective peculiar, whose common meaning in everyday English, is 'odd', 'unusual', has an interesting [[etymology|etymological history. It is related to the verb 'to peculate', 'to embezzle', 'to defraud of [money]', which was an eighteenth century use in English of the Latin verb pecūlārī

Its ultimate root lies in Latin pecus, 'a flock' (in later Latin, of sheep) or 'herd' (originally) of cattle.