nuance

See also: Nuance and nuancé

English

WOTD – 1 February 2007

Etymology

Borrowed from French nuance (“nuance, shade, hue”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnjuː.ɑːns/
• IPA^(key): /ˈnuː.ɑːns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

nuance (countable and uncountable, plural nuances)

1. A minor distinction.
2. Subtlety or fine detail.

   Understanding the basics is easy, but appreciating the nuances takes years.

   • 1901: Alpheus Spring Packard, Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution

     ...the richer our collections become, the more numerous are the proofs that all is more or less shaded (nuance), that the remarkable differences become obliterated...

   • Template:RQ:LstWkTnt

Derived terms

• nuanced

Translations

minor distinction

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: matís (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: nuance (nl) c
• Esperanto: nuanco
• French: nuance (fr) f
• German: Nuance (de) f
• Italian: sfumatura (it), sottigliezza (it) f
• Japanese: ニュアンス (nyuansu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nyanse m

  Nynorsk: nyanse m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Occitan: nuança f, matís m
• Polish: niuans (pl) m
• Portuguese: nuance (pt) f, nuança (pt) f, sutileza (pt) f, matiz (pt) m
• Romanian: nuanță (ro) f, nuanțe f pl
• Russian: нюа́нс (ru) m (njuáns), (of a color,tone,taste)отте́нок (ru) m (otténok)
• Spanish: matiz (es) m
• Swedish: nyans (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: sắc thái (vi)

subtlety or fine detail

• Catalan: matís (ca) m
• Dutch: nuance (nl) c, subtiliteit (nl) f
• Esperanto: nuanco
• Finnish: nyanssi (fi), vivahde
• French: nuance (fr) f, subtilité (fr) f
• German: Nuance (de) f
• Italian: sottigliezza (it)
• Japanese: ニュアンス (nyuansu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: ظرافت (fa) (zerâfat), ریزه‌کاری (rize-kâri)
• Polish: niuans (pl) m, subtelność (pl) f
• Portuguese: nuance (pt) f, nuança (pt) f, subtil (pt)
• Russian: нюа́нс (ru) m (njuáns), то́нкость (ru) f (tónkostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: nuance f, osjetljivost (sh) f

• Spanish: matiz (es) m
• Swedish: nyans (sv) c

Verb

1. (transitive) To apply a nuance to; to change or redefine in a subtle way.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French nuance.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /nyˈʋɑ̃sə/, /nyˈʋɑnsə/
• Hyphenation: nu‧an‧ce

Noun

nuance f (plural nuances or nuancen, diminutive nuanceje n or nuancetje n)

1. nuance, subtle distinction

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French

Etymology

nuer +‎ -ance

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɥɑ̃s/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Homophone: nuances
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

nuance f (plural nuances)

1. nuance
2. gradation of colors
3. (music) dynamics

Further reading

• “nuance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Portuguese

Noun

nuance f (plural nuances)

1. Alternative form of nuança