dainty

English

Etymology

From Middle English deynte, from Old French deintié, from Latin dignitātem. Doublet of dignity.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪnti/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -eɪnti

Noun

dainty (plural dainties)

1. A delicacy (in taste).
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     […] my case was deplorable enough, yet I had great cause for thankfulness that I was not driven to any extremities for food, but had rather plenty, even to dainties.

   • 1791, William Cowper, The Odyssey of Homer
2. (obsolete) Esteem, honour.
3. (Canada, Prairies and northwestern Ontario) A fancy cookie, pastry, or square, typically homemade, served at a social event (usually plural).
4. (obsolete) An affectionate term of address.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Related terms

► English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *deḱ-‎ (1 c, 10 e)

Translations

a delicacy

• Bulgarian: деликатес (delikates), лакомство (bg) (lakomstvo)
• German: Delikatesse (de) f
• Latin: scītāmentum n, mattea f
• Maori: horotai

• Plautdietsch: Lakjabeskje n
• Russian: деликате́с (ru) m (delikatɛ́s), ла́комство (ru) n (lákomstvo)
• Swedish: läckerbit, läckerhet, godbit (sv), delikatess (sv)

Adjective

dainty (comparative daintier, superlative daintiest)

1. (obsolete) Excellent; valuable, fine.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 13, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     Heliogabalus the most dissolute man of the world, amidst his most riotous sensualities, intended, whensoever occasion should force him to it, to have a daintie death.

2. Elegant; delicately small and pretty.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance)​, [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: Printed [by Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837:

     Those dainty limbs which nature lent / For gentle usage and soft delicacy.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:

     However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

3. Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, An Advertisement touching an Holy War
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii]:

     And let us not be dainty of leave taking, / But shift away.

Synonyms

• neat
• petite

Derived terms

• daintily
• daintiness

Translations

delicately small and pretty

• Bulgarian: не́жен (bg) (néžen), изи́скан (bg) (izískan)
• Danish: laekkeri
• Dutch: delicaat (nl)
• Finnish: siro (fi)
• French: délicat (fr), mignon (fr)
• German: fein (de), delikat (de), zart (de), zierlich (de), niedlich (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἁβρός (habrós), τρυφερός (trupherós)

• Latin: dēlicātus
• Maori: tōitiiti, marore
• Portuguese: delicada (pt) f, delicado (pt) m
• Russian: изя́щный (ru) (izjáščnyj), изы́сканный (ru) (izýskannyj), утончённый (ru) (utončónnyj), элега́нтный (ru) (elegántnyj), не́жный (ru) (néžnyj) (gentle), ла́комый (ru) (lákomyj) (tasty)
• Spanish: delicado (es) m
• Welsh: amheuthun (cy)

small and pretty

• German: putzig (de), niedlich (de)
• Javanese: ayu (jv)

fastidious and fussy when eating

• Bulgarian: приди́рчив (bg) (pridírčiv)
• Cornish: denti
• Finnish: nirso (fi), valikoiva (fi)
• German: anspruchsvoll (de), mäkelig, geziert (de), pingelig (de)

• Russian: привере́дливый (ru) (priverédlivyj), приди́рчивый (ru) (pridírčivyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: izbirljiv
• Spanish: mañoso (es) m

References

• “dainty” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.