Idiopathic

 WORD OF THE DAY

idiopathic / adjective / id-ee-uh-PATH-ik

Definition
1a: arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause
1b: primary
2: peculiar to the individual

Examples
"Konnikova is a popular psychology writer…. Her interest was sparked by the unfairness of life—idiopathic illness striking at random, her husband's start-up failing, and so on."
— Hermione Eyre, The Spectator, 27 June 2020

"There are a number of reports of individuals who have developed an idiopathic (unexplained) inability to sweat during military and extreme training."
— Adam Taylor, The Independent (UK), 19 Nov. 2019

Did You Know?
Idiopathic joins the combining form idio- (from Greek idios, meaning "one's own" or "private") with -pathic, a form that suggests the effects of disease.
The combining form idio- is typically found in technical terms.
Examples include idiographic, meaning "relating to or dealing with something concrete, individual, or unique"; idiolect, meaning "the language or speech pattern of one individual at a particular period of life"; and idiotype, meaning "the molecular structure and conformation of an antibody that confers its antigenic specificity."
A more common idio- word is idiosyncrasy, which most commonly refers to an unusual way in which a person behaves or thinks, or to an unusual part or feature of something.