éminence grise

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• eminence grise, gray eminence, grey eminence

Etymology

From French éminence (“power”) + grise (“gray”)

Noun

éminence grise (plural éminence grises)

1. A secret or unofficial decision-maker; the power behind the throne.
   • 1987 July 12, John A. Garraty, "Harry's Luck" (book review of Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy by George McJimsey), New York Times (retrieved 4 Sep. 2011):

     But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.

   • 2009 Sept. 16, Coco Masters, "New Prime Minister — and New Shadow Shogun," Time:

     Ozawa is the Secretary-General of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.

Translations

a secret or unofficial decision-maker; the power behind the throne

• Czech: šedá eminence (cs) f
• Danish: grå eminence (da)
• Dutch: grijze eminentie (nl)
• Finnish: harmaa eminenssi (fi)
• French: éminence grise (fr) f
• Georgian: რუხი კარდინალი (ka) (ruxi kardinali) 
• German: Graue Eminenz (de)
• Italian: eminenza grigia (it) f

• Japanese: 黒幕 (ja)
• Norwegian: grå eminense (no) m
• Portuguese: eminência parda (pt) f
• Romanian: eminență cenușie (ro) f
• Russian: серый кардинал (ru) (séryj kardinál) m 
• Serbo-Croatian: siva eminencija (sh)
• Spanish: eminencia gris (es) f, jefe máximo (es) m (Mexico)
• Swedish: grå eminens (sv)

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French

Noun

eminence grise f (plural éminences grises)

1. (idiomatic) éminence grise