Oddness of English copper, one prevaricating in shame (11)
I believe the answer is:
peculiarity
'oddness' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'english copper one prevaricating in shame' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'copper' becomes 'cu' (chemical symbol).
'one prevaricating' becomes 'liar' (to prevaricate is to speak dishonestly).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'shame' becomes 'pity' (synonyms).
'e'+'cu'+'liar'='eculiar'
'eculiar' placed inside 'pity' is 'PECULIARITY'.
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for peculiarity that I've seen before include "Unusual feature or habit" , "Unusual characteristic" .)