'Particular' means 'relating to a tiny piece' — the Latin diminutive of 'pars' (part). Small by design.
An individual item or detail; (as adjective) relating to or affecting a single or specific thing rather than all; especially great or noteworthy.
From Old French 'particulier,' from Latin 'particulāris' meaning 'of or pertaining to a small part,' from 'particula' (a small part, a little bit), the diminutive of 'pars' (part, share, portion), from PIE *perh₂- (to grant, to allot). The word literally means 'relating to a tiny piece' — the opposite of 'general' (relating to the whole kind). This general-particular opposition, foundational in Aristotelian logic, entered English through
In Aristotelian logic — which dominated European thought for nearly two thousand years — 'particular' and 'general' formed the fundamental pair: a 'particular' proposition says something about some members of a class ('some humans are wise'), while a 'general' proposition says something about all members ('all humans are mortal'). English inherited both words from Latin translations of Aristotle.