exquisite

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English exquisit,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin exquīsītus (“carefully sought out, choice”),^{[5][6][7][2][8]} the past participle of exquīrō (“to search out”),^{[7][6][9][10]} from ex- (“out”) and quaerō (“to seek”),^{[7][6][11][3]} the source of query, quest and question.^[11][6] Ayto notes that the Latin participle had already acquired the metaphorical sense "sought after, choice, excellent".^[11] Weekley compares French recherché.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sought out, ingeniously devised, far-fetched: about 1460, in John Fortescue's Governance of England.^[7] Barnhart dates the word probably before 1425 in the sense "careful, searching",^[13][5] and Etymonline to the early 15th century as "carefully selected".^[6]

Semantic evolution

Between the 15th and the 18th centuries the adjective was used in many senses: ingenious or far-fetched, abstruse, affected, careful or exact, elaborate, and even, of a disease, "true, typical", rendering Greek usage in Latin versions of Galen.^[11][7][9] Originally it could describe anything brought to a highly wrought condition, good or bad, torture and diseases as well as art.^[6] The sense "of the highest excellence" is recorded from 1530,^[13][5] and "excruciating" of torture from 1603, which survives in exquisite pain.^[7][14] The main modern sense, "so beautiful or perfect as to give intense delight", first appears in Lyly's Euphues (1578 in the OED, 1579 in Etymonline and Barnhart),^[7][6][5] and became the prevailing one.^[7][11] Johnson (1755) gave "far-sought; excellent; consummate; complete" as the first sense.^[15] The noun, a dandy or fop, dates from 1819.^[6][3][12]

Timeline

• c. 1460 – sought out, ingeniously devised (obsolete by 1665).^[7]
• 1530 – of a person, accomplished, consummate (obsolete by 1823).^[7][5]
• 1541 – accurate, exact, careful (obsolete by 1797).^[7]
• 1561 – of food and drink, choice, dainty.^[7]
• 1578 – of such beauty or perfection as to give intense delight.^[7]
• 1603 – of torture, excruciating.^[7]
• 1819 – noun, a dandy, a fop.^[6][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Extremely beautiful and delicate; made with flawless craftsmanship: an exquisite little enamel box.^[14][3][7]
2. Keenly sensitive or discriminating: a reader of exquisite judgement.^[14][3]
3. Of a feeling, intense or sharp: exquisite pain.^[14][3][7]
4. Outstanding, excellent, or consummate.^[14][3]
5. (archaic) Accurate, exact.^[16][7][17]

Noun

1. (obsolete) A man too particular about his dress; a dandy.^[14][3]

Word family

• exquisitely
• exquisiteness
• overexquisite
• superexquisite

Related words

• query
• quest
• question

Usage notes

Both stresses, on the first and on the second syllable, are now accepted: Webster's Second International gave only the first, while modern dictionaries list both.^[18]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Exquisite expressions", 8 September 2007