Etymologically
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exquisite

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪkˈskwɪzɪt/, /ˈɛkskwɪzɪt/[1]

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

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