caprice

See also: Caprice

English

WOTD – 25 January 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio (“fright, sudden start”): capo (“head”), from Latin caput + riccio (“curly”), from Latin ēricius (“hedgehog”), or from Italian capro (“goat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈpɹis/

Noun

caprice (plural caprices)

1. An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Honourable Mr. Glascock”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 107:

     It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.

2. An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     After that we cast off all allegiance to immediate, tangible, and time-touched things, and entered a fantastic world of hushed unreality in which the narrow, ribbon-like road rose and fell and curved with an almost sentient and purposeful caprice amidst the tenantless green peaks and half-deserted valleys

3. A disposition to be impulsive.
   • 2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1]:

     In selecting Bran Stark, the lords of Westeros are choosing to value these stories and memories above whatever other qualities might make a good ruler, and more specifically, put an end to the caprices of heritage that have allowed bloodlines to wreak havoc on good stewardship of these kingdoms.

4. (music) A capriccio.

Related terms

• capricious

Translations

impulsive, seemingly unmotivated notion or action

• Albanian: tekë (sq), trill (sq)
• Breton: froudenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: каприз (bg) m (kapriz), прищявка (bg) f (prištjavka)
• Catalan: capritx m, caprici m
• Dutch: capriool (nl) n, capriolen (nl) pl
• Esperanto: kaprico (eo)
• Finnish: heitto (fi), möläys (notion); oikku (fi) (action)
• French: caprice (fr) m
• German: Laune (de) f
• Icelandic: dyntur (is) m, duttlungur (is) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: arbitrium n
• Polish: kaprys (pl) m
• Portuguese: capricho (pt) m
• Romanian: capriciu (ro) n
• Russian: капри́з (ru) m (kapríz)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хи̑р m

  Roman: hȋr (sh) m

• Spanish: capricho (es)
• Swedish: nyck (sv), infall (sv), påhitt (sv), ryck (sv)

unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes

• Bulgarian: изменчивост (bg) f (izmenčivost), непостоянност f (nepostojannost)
• Catalan: capritx m, caprici m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: oikku (fi)

disposition to be impulsive

• Bulgarian: импулсивност f (impulsivnost)
• Finnish: oikullisuus (fi), oikuttelu (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: impulsivitate (ro)
• Russian: своенравие (ru) n (svojenravije)

impulsive change of mind

• Bulgarian: прищявка (bg) f (prištjavka)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: oikku (fi)

capriccio — see capriccio

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French

Etymology

From Italian capriccio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pʁis/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

caprice m (plural caprices)

1. whim; wish
   • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné

     Pas malade ! en effet, je suis jeune, sain et fort. Le sang coule librement dans mes veines ; tous mes membres obéissent à tous mes caprices

     Not ill! Indeed, I am young, healthy and strong. Blood flows freely in my veins; all my parts obey my every wish.

2. tantrum

Derived terms

• capricieux

Descendants

• → English: caprice

Further reading

• “caprice”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.