subtlety

English

WOTD – 16 April 2007

Etymology

From Middle English sotilte, from Old French sutilté, inherited from Latin subtīlitās, from subtīlis (“subtle”). Doublet of subtility.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌtəlti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

subtlety (countable and uncountable, plural subtleties)

1. (uncountable) The quality or fact of being subtle.

   With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.

2. (countable) An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.

   The subtleties of this overture are often overlooked.

3. (countable) An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another.

   At the king's coronation feast, several subtleties were served between main courses.

Translations

quality or act of being subtle

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: sutileza f
• Catalan: subtilesa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微妙 (zh) (wēimiào)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: hienovaraisuus (fi)
• French: subtilité (fr)
• Galician: sutileza f
• German: Geschicklichkeit (de) f, Feinheit (de) f, Feinsinn m, Feinsinnigkeit f, Raffinesse (de) f, Raffiniertheit f, Scharfsinn (de) m, Scharfsinnigkeit f, Subtilität (de) f, Zartheit (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: λεπτότητα (el) f (leptótita)
• Italian: sottigliezza (it) f
• Japanese: 微妙 (ja) (びみょう, bimyō)
• Latin: argūtiae f pl
• Polish: subtelność (pl) f, delikatność (pl) f
• Portuguese: sutileza (pt) f
• Russian: то́нкость (ru) f (tónkostʹ)
• Spanish: delicadeza f, sutileza (es) f
• Swedish: subtilitet (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: incelik (tr), kurnazlık (tr), zekilik (tr), ustalık (tr), anlaşılmazlık (tr)

an instance of being subtle

• Asturian: sutileza f
• Galician: sutileza f
• Polish: subtelność (pl) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: sutileza (pt) f
• Spanish: sutileza (es) f
• Swedish: finess (sv)

illusion food

• French: entremets (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Novial: , (2)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}