TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Odd - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

The video explores the word 'odd', tracing its origins from the Indo-European root 'uzdho', meaning 'pointing upwards'. It discusses how Old Norse speakers adapted this root into 'oddi', referring to a triangle, and how this concept evolved to describe things that are unmatched or unpaired. The term 'odd' was later used in mathematics to describe numbers indivisible by two and in voting to describe the unpaired man who could break a tie. The English language adopted these meanings, and by the 16th century, 'odd' also came to mean 'peculiar'.

What is the Indo-European root of the word 'odd' and what does it mean?

How did the Old Norse word 'oddi' evolve in meaning over time?

What was the significance of the term 'odda mathr' in Old Norse culture?

In what way did the English language borrow concepts related to 'odd'?

How did the meaning of 'odd' change by the 16th century?