| 释义 |
whatness|ˈhwɒtnɪs|
[f. what pron. + -ness; transl. L. quidditās quiddity.]
That which makes a thing what it is; essential nature, essence: = quiddity 1.
1611Florio, Quidità, the whatnesse of any thing. 1627W. Sclater Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 39 The kinde or quality, or if you'l so terme it, whatnesse of it. 1656[? J. Sergeant] tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 198 The Understandablenesse of a thing, or the quiddity, the Whatnesse. 1870Morley Stud. Lit. (1891) 266 Pressing for definition, you never get much further than that each given quiddity means a certain Whatness. 1889Mivart Truth 212 We must..have the conception of the kind of thing the object is—‘what’ it is, or the idea of its ‘whatness’.
†b. Used by N. Fairfax for: Statement of what a thing is, definition. Obs. nonce-use.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 80 The definition or whatness of a thing ought to be of a thing as a thing. |