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
• French: délicatesse (fr) f
• German: Feinheit (de) f, Zartheit (de) f
• Irish: íogaireacht f, (of person) leiceacht f
• Portuguese: delicadeza (pt) f

• Russian: деликатность (ru) f (delikátnostʹ), утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst 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)

• Japanese: 珍味 (ちんみ, chinmi), 美味 (ja) (びみ, bimi), デリカシー (derikashī)
• Luxembourgish: Delikatess f
• Portuguese: iguaria (pt), guloseima
• Russian: деликатес (ru) m (delikatɛ́s), лакомство (ru) n (lákomstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian: delikatèsa f, pòslastica f
• Spanish: exquisitez f, golosina (es) f, manjar (es) m
• Swedish: delikatess (sv) c

elegance of construction or appearance

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

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

refinement in taste

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

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