Idiolect

Idiolect is a noun that refers to the language or speech unique to a particular person. Our word of the day combines the Greek prefix I-D-E-O, meaning ‘personalized’ with the suffix L-E-C-T, meaning ‘to speak.’ You could think of an idiolect as a personal dialect. I used to make all my classmates crack up when doing impressions of our teachers. It was always a great challenge to try to mimic each teacher’s idiolect, capturing all of their personal speech habits and eccentricities.