Word of the Day ArchiveTuesday August 29, 2006 sui generis

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

In the degree of their alienation from their society and of their impact on it, the Russian intelligentsia of the nineteenth century were a phenomenon almost sui generis.-- Aileen M. Kelly, Toward Another Shore

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."