delicacy

English

Etymology

From Middle English delicacie, from Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛlɪkəsi/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

delicacy (countable and uncountable, plural delicacies)

1. The quality of being delicate.
   • 1878, Samuel Butler, Life and Habit, London: Trübner & Co., page 1:

     […] for unless a matter be true enough to stand a good deal of misrepresentation, its truth is not of a very robust order, and the blame will rather lie with its own delicacy than with the carelessness of the crusher.

2. Something appealing, usually a pleasing food, especially a choice dish of a certain culture suggesting rarity and refinement.

   a Chinese delicacy

3. Fineness or elegance of construction or appearance.
4. Frailty of health or fitness.
5. Refinement in taste or discrimination.
6. Tact and propriety; the need for such tact.

Related terms

• delicate
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight

 

Translations

quality of being delicate

• Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost), деликатност (bg) f (delikatnost)
• Catalan: delicadesa (ca) f
• Danish: sarthed c, delikatesse c
• Estonian: õrnus
• Finnish: herkullisuus (fi)
• French: délicatesse (fr) f
• Galician: delicadeza f
• German: Feinheit (de) f, Zartheit (de) f
• Irish: íogaireacht f, (of person) leiceacht f
• Italian: delicatezza (it) f
• Polish: delikatność (pl) f, finezja (pl) f, subtelność (pl) f
• Portuguese: delicadeza (pt) f
• Russian: делика́тность (ru) f (delikátnostʹ), утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f
• Spanish: fineza f, delicadeza (es) f, fragilidad (es) f
• Swedish: delikatess (sv) c

something appealing, especially a pleasing food

• Bulgarian: лакомство (bg) n (lakomstvo), деликатес (bg) m (delikates)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 美味 (zh) (měiwèi), 珍味 (zh) (zhēnwèi), 美食 (zh) (měishí), 珍饈／珍馐 (zh) (zhēnxiū), 佳餚／佳肴 (zh) (jiāyáo), 嘉殽／嘉淆 (jiāyáo), 佳肴 (zh) (jiāyáo)

• Czech: lahůdka (cs) f, delikatesa f
• Danish: delikatesse c, lækkerbisken c
• Dutch: lekkernij (nl) f
• Finnish: herkku (fi)
• French: gourmandise (fr) f
• German: Delikatesse (de) f, Leckerbissen (de) m, Köstlichkeit f
• Hebrew: מַעֲדָן‎ (he) m (ma'adan), מַטְעָם‎ m (mat'ám)
• Italian: prelibatezza (it) f, leccornia (it) f, squisitezza (it) f
• Japanese: 珍味 (ja) (ちんみ, chinmi), 美味 (ja) (びみ, bimi), デリカシー (derikashī)
• Kazakh: жеңсiк тағам (jeñsik tağam), жеңсiк ас (jeñsik as)
• Kyrgyz: чүйгүн (ky) (çüygün)
• Latin: scītāmentum n, mattea f
• Latvian: delikatese f
• Luxembourgish: Delikatess f
• Maori: horotai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: delikatesse m

  Nynorsk: delikatesse f

• Plautdietsch: Lakjabeskje n
• Polish: delikates (pl) m, delicje f pl, przysmak (pl) m
• Portuguese: iguaria (pt), guloseima (pt)
• Russian: деликате́с (ru) m (delikatɛ́s), ла́комство (ru) n (lákomstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian: delikatèsa (sh) f, pòslastica (sh) f
• Spanish: exquisitez f, golosina (es) f, manjar (es) m
• Swedish: delikatess (sv) c
• Vietnamese: mỹ vị (vi) (美味)

elegance of construction or appearance

• Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost)
• Finnish: hienostuneisuus (fi)
• Portuguese: fineza (pt)
• Russian: утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f
• Spanish: fineza f

refinement in taste

• Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost)
• Danish: skrøbelighed c
• Finnish: hienostuneisuus (fi)
• Portuguese: refinamento (pt), fineza (pt)
• Russian: утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ), изы́сканность (ru) f (izýskannostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f