delicacy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English delicacie,^[2][3][4] formed from English delicate + -acy.^[5][6][7][8] The adjective delicate is from Latin delicatus (“alluring, delightful, dainty; given to pleasure”), which is related to deliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”) and delicio (“to allure, entice”), from de- (“away”) and lacio (“to lure, entice”).^[8] The OED compares the earlier delice, which partly shares its meanings, and notes delicacies in Anglo-Norman for sensitive handling in the late 14th century and delicatia (“luxury”) in British Latin (1434), taken from English.^[5] Johnson derived it from French delicatesse.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Luxury, easy living and indulgence, and also love of pleasure, fastidiousness and deliciousness: all before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis,^[5] who uses the word 15 times.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, in the senses of delightfulness, fastidiousness and addiction to sensuous pleasure,^[8] and the Oxford Dictionary of English gives voluptuousness and luxuriousness as its first senses.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the meanings of delicate, which in Latin meant both delightful and given to pleasure.^[8] Its first group of senses, luxury, self-indulgence and pleasure, is obsolete: the OED's last records of them range from 1605 to 1741, and of deliciousness to 1873.^[5] Chaucer used it four times, for pleasure and wantonness.^[4] A delicious thing to eat was a delicacy from before 1425,^[5][8] and this is the sense of that group that survives.^[6][5] The second group grew from delicate as "fine, slender, fragile": fineness of texture and tender beauty from the late 16th century,^[6][8] weakness of health, which the OED finds in Sidney's Arcadia (before 1586) and Etymonline from the 1630s,^[5][8] fineness of skill in the late 17th century, and sensitivity of feeling and regard for others' feelings in the early 18th.^[6] The sense "a matter that needs careful handling" followed in the late 18th century.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave "daintiness; fineness in eating" first.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1393 – luxury, indulgence; love of pleasure; fastidiousness; deliciousness, in Gower.^[5]
• c. 1405 – pleasure, gratification, in Chaucer's Monk's Tale (obsolete by 1667).^[5]
• before 1425 – a choice or delicious food.^[5][8]
• before 1450 – loveliness, beauty (obsolete by 1634).^[5]
• late 16th century – exquisite fineness of texture or form; tender beauty.^[6][8]
• before 1586 – weakness of constitution or health, in Sidney's Arcadia.^[5]
• late 17th century – fineness of skill or touch.^[6]
• early 18th century – sensitivity of perception or feeling; tactful regard for others.^[6]
• late 18th century – the quality of needing careful handling.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A choice or rare food regarded as a special treat: Smoked eel is a local delicacy.^[10][3][5]
2. Fineness of quality, texture or workmanship; graceful, fragile beauty.^[10][6]
3. Fragility of build or weakness of health.^[10][5][6]
4. Refinement or sensitivity of feeling; tact and regard for the feelings of others.^[10][6]
5. The quality of needing tactful or careful handling: the delicacy of the talks.^[10][6]
6. Precision or sensitivity, as of an instrument.^[10][6]
7. Excessive refinement; squeamishness or fastidiousness.^[10][5]
8. (obsolete, 1393–1726) Luxury or indulgence.^[5][6][3]
9. (obsolete, 1405–1667) Pleasure, gratification.^[5][6][3]

Word family

• hyperdelicacy
• indelicacy

Related words

• delicate
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight
• delice

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins