proprium
/ˈproʊpriəm/
noun
- A special quality or characteristic that belongs uniquely to a particular person or thing.
- Her kindness was the proprium that everyone remembered about her.
- The ability to laugh is often considered a proprium of human beings.
- Each species has its own proprium that distinguishes it from others.
- In philosophy and theology, a property that is essential and exclusive to a being or substance.
- The concept of proprium helps define what makes a thing what it is.
- In medieval philosophy, the proprium of fire is to heat.
- The theologian explained that omnipotence is a proprium of God.