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, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter I”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     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

   • Thomas Fuller (1606-1661)

     his books of Oriental languages, wherein he was exquisite

Synonyms

• beautiful, delicate, discriminating

Translations

especially fine

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

  Mandarin: 精緻 (zh), 精致 (zh) ‎(jīngzhì)

• Dutch: uitstekend (nl), exquise
• Esperanto: ravega
• Finnish: ihastuttava (fi), hienostunut (fi)
• French: exquis (fr)

  Old French: delicatif

• German: exquisit (de)

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

  Sorani: نایاب (ku)

• Portuguese: esmerado (pt), primoroso (pt) m
• Russian: изы́сканный (ru) ‎(izýskannyj), изя́щный (ru) ‎(izjáščnyj)
• Spanish: exquisito (es), bonísimo (es)

obsolete: carefully adjusted

recherché

of special beauty or rare excellence

• Portuguese: distinto (pt) m

exceeding, extreme

of delicate perception

Noun

exquisite ‎(plural exquisites)

1. (rare) Fop, dandy. [from early 20th c.]
   • 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

---

Latin

Participle

exquīsīte

1. vocative masculine singular of exquīsītus

References

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