# oddball

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɑːdˌbɔl/ · frequency rank #39,000

## Definitions
1. An eccentric or unusual person.
2. A deviant stimulus that appears among repetitive stimuli during an experiment, to trigger an event-related potential in the participant.

## Etymology
Compound of odd + ball. First used in late 1930s, describing an extra ball played as a bonus in pin-ball type games. Well-attested since the 1940s, with the adjective appearing earlier than the noun.

## Common misspellings (7)
`dodball`, `odball`, `odbdall`, `oddabll`, `oddbal`, `oddbball`, `oddblal`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/oddball