tête-à-tête

See also: tete-a-tete

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/, /ˌteɪt.əˈteɪt/

Noun

tête-à-tête (plural tête-à-têtes)

1. A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.
   • 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.

2. A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face.
3. A variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil.

Translations

a face-to-face meeting

• Tagalog: rayama
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adverb

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. In private, between two people; head-to-head.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair:

     Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 10:

     In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited.

Synonyms

• (private meeting): head-to-head
• (bench): courting bench, kissing bench, conversation bench

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛ.ta.tɛt/ ~ /te.ta.tɛt/

• Audio (France):

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• Audio (Quebec):

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• Audio (CAN):

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Noun

tête-à-tête m (plural tête-à-têtes)

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

Further reading

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

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Swedish

Alternative forms

• tätatät

Etymology

From French tête-à-tête.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛtaˈtɛːt/
• Rhymes: -ɛːt

Noun

tête-à-tête c

1. an intimate meeting or conversation between two people; tête-à-tête

Declension

Declension of tête-à-tête
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	tête-à-tête	tête-à-têten	tête-à-têter	tête-à-têterna
Genitive	tête-à-têtes	tête-à-têtens	tête-à-têters	tête-à-têternas

References

• tête-à-tête in Svensk ordbok (SO)