delicate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdel.ɪ.kət/, /ˈdel.ə.kət/^[1]

Etymology

It is, through Old French délicat or directly, borrowed from Latin dēlicātus (“alluring, delightful, luxurious, dainty”),^[2][3][4] which is of unknown origin^[4][5] but is related, at least by folk etymology, to dēliciae, delight, and dēlicere, to allure, entice (see delight).^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, self-indulgent, loving ease: about 1375, in Chaucer.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant delightful (1382), of food pleasing to the palate (about 1380), and given to luxury or pleasure (about 1386), senses now obsolete except for dainty food.^[7][8] The modern senses grew from the idea of refinement: fine, not coarse or robust, and finely sensitive or skilful, from the 16th century,^[4] and the dainty beauty of things from 1583.^[7] Delicacy is from the 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – self-indulgent.^[2]
• c. 1380 – of food, dainty.^[7]
• 1553 – of air or climate, mild.^[7]
• 16th century – fine, fragile; finely skilful.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Exquisitely fine or dainty in quality or construction.
2. Of colour, taste or tone, pleasantly subtle or faint.
3. Fragile; easily broken or damaged, or frail in health.
4. Needing tact or careful handling: a delicate situation.
5. Sensitive and precise in operation: a delicate mechanism.

Word family

• delicately
• delicateness
• hyperdelicate
• overdelicate
• superdelicate
• indelicate

Related words

• delicacy
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press