exquisite

English

Etymology

From Latin exquīsītus (“to be outsought”), perfect passive participle of exquīrō (“I outseek”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Adjective

exquisite (comparative more exquisite, superlative most exquisite)

1. Specially 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.

   • 1983 February 5, “Yingko -- Taiwan's ceramics capital”, in Arab News‎^[1], volume VIII, number 69, Saudi Arabia, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 4:

     YINGKO – This small township in the southwest of Taipei county is not known for its beautiful scenery or historic relics. Yet every week it attracts hundreds of visitors. They all come to appreciate the exquisite pottery made in the town, for Yingko is the ceramics capital of Taiwan.

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, (please specify |book=I to XI):

     his books of Oriental languages, wherein he was exquisite

Synonyms

• beautiful, delicate, discriminating, perfect

Derived terms

• exquisite corpse
• exquisitely
• exquisiteness
• overexquisite
• superexquisite

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, delikata (eo)
• 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), excelente (pt), excepcional (pt)
• 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.]

   Synonyms: macaroni, popinjay; see also Thesaurus:dandy

   • 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