Main Entry: id·i·om

Pronunciation: \ˈi-dē-əm\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French idiome, from Late Latin idioma individual peculiarity of language, from Greek idiōmat-, idiōma, from idiousthai to appropriate, from idios

Date: 1588

1 a : the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class : dialect b : the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language
2 : an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for “the Monday a week after next Monday”)
3 : a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument <the modern jazz idiom>; broadly : manner, style <a new culinary idiom>