delicacy

delicacy

English

Etymology

From Middle English delicacie, from Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛlɪkəsi/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

delicacy (countable and uncountable, plural delicacies)

1. The quality of being delicate.
2. Something appealing, usually a pleasing food, especially a choice dish of a certain culture suggesting rarity and refinement -a Chinese delicacy
3. Fineness or elegance of construction or appearance.
4. Frailty of health or fitness.
5. Refinement in taste or discrimination.
6. Tact and propriety; the need for such tact.

Related terms

• delicate
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight

 

Translations

quality of being delicate

Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost), деликатност (bg) f (delikatnost) Finnish: herkullisuus (fi) French: délicatesse (fr) f Galician: delicadeza f German: Feinheit (de) f, Zartheit (de) f Irish: íogaireacht f, (of person) leiceacht f

Portuguese: delicadeza (pt) f Russian: делика́тность (ru) f (delikátnostʹ), утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f Spanish: fineza f, delicadeza f, fragilidad f Swedish: delikatess (sv) c

something appealing, especially a pleasing food

Bulgarian: лакомство (bg) n (lakomstvo), деликатес m (delikates) Chinese: Mandarin: 美味 (zh) (měiwèi), 珍味 (zh) (zhēnwèi), 美食 (zh) (měishí) Czech: lahůdka f, delikatesa f Dutch: lekkernij (nl) f Finnish: herkku (fi) French: gourmandise (fr) f German: Delikatesse (de) f, Leckerbissen (de) m, Köstlichkeit f Hebrew: מעדן‎ m (ma'adan) Italian: prelibatezza (it) f, leccornia (it) f, squisitezza f Japanese: 珍味 (ちんみ, chinmi), 美味 (ja) (びみ, bimi), デリカシー (derikashī) Latin: scītāmentum n

Luxembourgish: Delikatess f Maori: horotai Norwegian: Bokmål: delikatesse m Nynorsk: delikatesse f Portuguese: iguaria (pt), guloseima (pt) Russian: деликате́с (ru) m (delikatɛ́s), ла́комство (ru) n (lákomstvo) Serbo-Croatian: delikatèsa (sh) f, pòslastica (sh) f Spanish: exquisitez f, golosina (es) f, manjar (es) m Swedish: delikatess (sv) c Vietnamese: mỹ vị (vi)

elegance of construction or appearance

Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost) Finnish: hienostuneisuus (fi) Portuguese: fineza (pt)

Russian: утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f Spanish: fineza f

refinement in taste

Bulgarian: изтънченост (bg) f (iztǎnčenost) Finnish: hienostuneisuus (fi) Portuguese: refinamento (pt), fineza (pt)

Russian: утончённость (ru) f (utončónnostʹ), изы́сканность (ru) f (izýskannostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: dȅlikātnōst (sh) f