Quid'di-ty, n.

n. [L. Lat. quiddĭtas, from Lat. quid, what, It. quiddità, Sp. quiddidad, Fr. quiddité.]

1. The essence or nature of a thing; that which constitutes the peculiar nature of any thing, or answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it? “The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose.” De Quincey.
2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a captious question.

We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge.