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

Wikipedia

delicacy ‎(plural delicacies)

1. The quality of being delicate.
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)
• Finnish: herkullisuus (fi)
• French: délicatesse (fr) f
• Galician: delicadeza f
• German: Feinheit (de) f, Zartheit (de) f
• Irish: íogaireacht f, (of person) leiceacht f
• Portuguese: delicadeza (pt) f

• Russian: делика́тность (ru) f ‎(delikátnostʹ), утончённость (ru) f ‎(utončónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f
• Spanish: fineza f, delicadeza f, fragilidad f
• Swedish: delikatess (sv) c

something appealing, especially a pleasing food

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

  Mandarin: 美味 (zh) ‎(měiwèi), 珍味 (zh) ‎(zhēnwèi), 美食 (zh) ‎(měishí)

• Dutch: lekkernij (nl) f
• Finnish: herkku
• French: gourmandise (fr) f
• German: Delikatesse (de) f, Leckerbissen (de) m, Köstlichkeit f
• Hebrew: מעדן m ‎(ma'adan)
• Italian: prelibatezza (it) f, leccornia (it) f, squisitezza f
• Japanese: 珍味 ‎(ちんみ, chinmi), 美味 (ja) ‎(びみ, bimi), デリカシー ‎(derikashī)

• Luxembourgish: Delikatess f
• Maori: horotai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: delikatesse m

  Nynorsk: delikatesse f

• 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)

elegance of construction or appearance

• Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f ‎(iztǎnčenost)
• Finnish: hienostuneisuus
• Portuguese: fineza (pt)

• Russian: утончённость (ru) f ‎(utončónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f
• Spanish: fineza f

refinement in taste

• Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f ‎(iztǎnčenost)
• Finnish: hienostuneisuus
• Portuguese: refinamento (pt), fineza (pt)

• Russian: утончённость (ru) f ‎(utončónnostʹ), изы́сканность (ru) f ‎(izýskannostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f