eccentric
/ɪkˈsɛntɹɪk/adjective, noun
eccentric is spelled E-C-C-E-N-T-R-I-C. The wrong spelling people search most is eccenteric: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 556 of all searches for the word. Eccentric is an adjective meaning “Not at or in the centre; away from the centre”.
How many letters and syllables are in eccentric?
| Letters | 9: E-C-C-E-N-T-R-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, eccenteric, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell eccentric?
Eccentric is spelled E-C-C-E-N-T-R-I-C. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 559 of the searches for eccentric in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is eccentric?
Eccentric appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce eccentric?
- /ɪkˈsɛntɹɪk/
- /ɛkˈsɛntɹɪk/
Eccentric has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-eccentric.ogg, En-au-eccentric.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of eccentric
- more eccentric comparative
- most eccentric superlative
- excentric
- eccentrick
- excentrick
- eccentrics plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does eccentric mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not at or in the centre; away from the centre.
- 2
Not perfectly circular; elliptical.
As of 2008, Margaret had the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system, though Nereid's mean eccentricity is greater.
- 3
Having a different center; not concentric.
- 4
Of a person, deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or differently; unconventional and slightly strange.
- 5
Of a motion, against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle (such as results from flexion of the lower arm (bending of the elbow joint) by an external force while contracting the triceps and other elbow extensor muscles to control that movement; opening of the jaw while flexing the masseter).
- 6
Having different goals or motives.
a. 1626, Francis Bacon, 1867, Richard Whately (analysis and notes), James R. Boyd (editor), Essay XI: Wisdom for a Man's Self, Lord Bacon's Essays, page 171, […] for whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands he crooketh them to his own end
- 7
Having or being an oospore with a single large oil globule on one side that displaces much of the ooplasm and forces the ooplasts to one side.
noun
- 1
One who does not behave like others.
- 2
slangA kook; a person of bizarre habits or beliefs.
- 3
A circle not having the same centre as another.
- 4
A disk or wheel with its axis off centre, giving a reciprocating motion.
- 5
An exercise that goes against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Eccentric in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | excentrique |
| German | exzentrisch , elliptisch, eiernd , außermittig , Exzentriker, Exzentrikerin |
| Portuguese | excêntrico |
| Spanish | excéntrico, venático, ideoso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.