dilettante

English

WOTD – 25 July 2010    

Etymology

From Italian dilettante, prop. present participle of dilettare (“to delight”), from Latin delectare (“to delight”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɪləˈtɒnt/
• (US) IPA: /ˈdɪlətənt/

Noun

dilettante (plural dilettanti or (rarely) dilettantes)

1. An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.
2. (sometimes offensive) A person with a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge.

Derived terms

• dilettantish, dilettanteish
• dilettantism, dilettanteism

Related terms

• delectable
• delight

Translations

amateur

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 業餘人士；一知半解的人 (cmn)

• Dutch: liefhebber (nl) m, amateur (nl) m
• German: Dilettant (de) m, Amateur (de) m, Stümper (de) m, Laie (de) m

• Norwegian: dilettant (no) m
• Romanian: diletant (ro) m, amator (ro) m
• Russian: дилетант (ru) (dil'etánt) m, любитель (ru) (ljubitelʹ) m, непрофессионал (ru) (neprofessional) m, профан (ru) (profan) m, (informal) чайник (ru) (čajnik) m, (informal) лапоть (ru) (lapotʹ) m, (colloquial, somewhat) лох (ru) (lox) m
• Spanish: diletante (es)
• Swedish: dilettant (sv) c, klåpare (sv)

person who enjoys the arts, regardless of expertise

• Dutch: kunstliefhebber m, dilettant(e)
• German: Kunstliebhaber (de) m
• Hungarian: műkedvelő (hu)

• Romanian: diletant (ro) m
• Spanish: diletante (es)
• Swedish: dilettant (sv) c, amatörmålare (sv) c, amatör (sv) c

person with a general but superficial interest

• Dutch: liefhebber (nl) m, amateur (nl) m
• German: Dilettant (de) m, Nichtfachmann (de) m
• Hungarian: dilettáns (hu)
• Norwegian: dilettant (no) m

• Russian: дилетант (ru) (dil'etánt) m
• Spanish: diletante (es)
• Swedish: dilettant (sv) c, amatör (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: diletant
• Esperanto: diletanto
• French: dilettante m and f
• Interlingua: dilettante
• Italian: dilettante m and f

• Macedonian: дилетант m
• Portuguese: diletante m and f
• Romanian: diletant m
• Serbo-Croatian: дилетант (diletant) m

See also

• amateur
• dabbler

Adjective

dilettante (comparative more dilettante, superlative most dilettante)

1. Pertaining to or like a dilettante.

Translations

pertaining to or like a dilettante

• Dutch: dilettantisch (nl)
• French: dilettante (fr)
• German: dilettantisch (de)

• Russian: дилетантский (ru) (diletantskij), любительский (ru) (ljubitelʹskij), непрофессиональный (ru) (neprofessionalʹnyj)
• Spanish: diletante (es)
• Swedish: amatörmässig (sv) c

References

• A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler (1926; Oxford at the Clarendon Press; London: Humphrey Milford), page 115
  dilettante. Pl. -ti (pron. -tē).
• “‖dilettante” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
  (dɪlɪˈtæntɪ, It. diletˈtante Pl. dilettanti (-tiː), rarely -es.

External links

• dilettante in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• dilettante in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Interlingua

Noun

dilettante (plural dilettantes)

1. dilettante

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Italian

Etymology

From dilettare "to delight"

Adjective

dilettante m, f (masculine and feminine plural dilettanti)

1. amateur

Noun

dilettante m, f (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur
2. dilettante