Etymology From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.
1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Irregularly declined or inflected.
2
Dated Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal.
he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together.1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 24:
Nor could I have dreamed the heteroclite crew-men I had met aboard Tzadkiel's ship […]1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XLVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281:
Etymology From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.
1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An irregularly declined or inflected word.
2
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A word whose etymological roots come from distinct, different languages or language groups.