exquisite

English

Etymology

From Latin exquīsītus, perfect passive participle of exquīrō (“seek out”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈskwɪzɪt/, /ˈɛkskwɪzɪt/

Adjective

exquisite (comparative more exquisite, superlative most exquisite)

1. Especially fine or pleasing; exceptional.

   They sell good coffee and pastries, but their chocolate is exquisite.

   Sourav Ganguly scored an exquisite century in his debut Test match.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

2. (obsolete) Carefully adjusted; precise; accurate; exact.
3. Recherché; far-fetched; abstruse.
4. Of special beauty or rare excellence.
5. Exceeding; extreme; keen, in a bad or a good sense.

   exquisite pain or pleasure

6. Of delicate perception or close and accurate discrimination; not easy to satisfy; exact; fastidious.

   exquisite judgment, taste, or discernment

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC:

     his books of Oriental languages, wherein he was exquisite

Synonyms

• beautiful, delicate, discriminating, perfect

Derived terms

• exquisite corpse

Translations

especially fine

• Bulgarian: изискан (bg) (iziskan), изящен (bg) (izjašten)
• Catalan: exquisit
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精緻／精致 (zh) (jīngzhì)

• Danish: udsøgt (da), fortræffelig, raffineret
• Dutch: uitstekend (nl), exquise (nl), voortreffelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: ravega
• Finnish: erinomainen (fi)
• French: exquis (fr)

  Old French: delicatif

• German: exquisit (de), köstlich (de), auserlesen (de)
• Greek: εξαίσιος (el) (exaísios), υπέροχος (el) (ypérochos)
• Hungarian: kitűnő (hu), nagyszerű (hu), pompás (hu)
• Ido: bonega (io)
• Italian: squisito (it), delizioso (it)
• Japanese: 絶妙 (ja) (ぜつみょうな, zetsumyõ na)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نایاب (nayab)

• Maori: turua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utsøkt

• Polish: wyśmienity (pl), wyborny (pl)
• Portuguese: esmerado (pt), primoroso (pt) m
• Russian: изы́сканный (ru) (izýskannyj), изя́щный (ru) (izjáščnyj)
• Spanish: exquisito (es), bonísimo (es)
• Swedish: enastående (sv), exceptionell (sv), utomordentlig (sv)

obsolete: carefully adjusted

• Finnish: tarkka (fi)
• Swedish: noggrann (sv) c, noggrant (sv) n

recherché

• Finnish: kaukaa haettu

of special beauty or rare excellence

• Dutch: voortreffelijk (nl)
• Finnish: suurenmoinen (fi)
• Maori: turua
• Portuguese: distinto (pt) m
• Russian: редкостный (ru) m (redkostnyj)
• Swedish: fin (sv) c

exceeding, extreme

• Danish: heftig, intens
• Finnish: äärimmäinen (fi)
• Russian: чрезвычайный (ru) (črezvyčajnyj)

of delicate perception

• Finnish: loistava (fi)

Noun

exquisite (plural exquisites)

1. (rare) Fop, dandy. [from early 20th c.]
   • 1849, Alexander Mackay, The western world; or, travels in the United States in 1846-87, page 93:

     It is impossible to meet with a more finished coxcomb than a Broadway exquisite, or a “Broadway swell,” which is the designation attached to him on the spot.

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 287:

     When this bejewelled exquisite lounged through the streets playing on his flute, puffing at a cigar, and smelling at a nosegay, the people whom he met threw themselves on the earth before him and prayed to him with sighs and tears.

   • 1925, P. G. Wodehouse, Sam the Sudden, Random House, London:2007, p. 42.

     So striking was his appearance that two exquisites, emerging from the Savoy Hotel and pausing on the pavement to wait for a vacant taxi, eyed him with pained disapproval as he approached, and then, starting, stared in amazement.

     'Good Lord!' said the first exquisite.

Translations

fop, dandy — see fop

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

exquisite

1. inflection of exquisit:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Latin

Participle

exquīsīte

1. vocative masculine singular of exquīsītus

References

• “exquisite”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers