what a thing is, taken in itself, apart from any opposed attribute
Distinguish from
wujūd (existence) — wujūd is that a thing is; māhiyya is what it is. Considered in itself, a quiddity is neither.
General Technical Meaning
Quiddity is a thing's intelligible whatness considered apart from external existence and stated in answer to ‘What is it?’
In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works
In al-Manāmāt, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī uses quiddity for a thing's determinate whatness: the beneficial has its quiddity specified relative to the good for which it is beneficial. The general technical source supplies the fuller whatness distinction; the local author evidence is not expanded beyond its role.