stiletto

stiletto

See also: stilettò

English

A stiletto (Italy, 17th century)

A pair of stilettoes

Triple portrait of King Charles I of England with a stiletto beard

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian stiletto. Doublet of stylet.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/, [stɪˈlɛɾoʊ]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stɪˈletəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

stiletto (plural stilettos or stilettoes or stiletti)

1. A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case‎:

     “There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]”

2. A rapier.
3. An awl.
4. A woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel (called a stiletto heel).
5. (obsolete, historical) A beard trimmed into a pointed form. [16th–17th c.]

   Synonyms: bodkin beard, pique-devant

   • 1636, John Ford, The Fancies Chaste and Noble

     The very quack of fashions, the very he that / Wears a stiletto on his chin.

Derived terms

• stiletto fly
• stiletto heel

Translations

stabbing weapon

Arabic: خُنَيْجِر‎ m (ḵunayjir) Belarusian: штыле́т m (štyljét) Bulgarian: малка кама f (malka kama), стилет m (stilet) Chinese: Mandarin: 短劍／短剑 (zh) (duǎnjiàn) Dutch: stiletto (nl) m Esperanto: stileto Finnish: stiletti (fi) French: stylet (fr) m German: Stilett (de) n, Dolchmesser n Ido: stileto (io) Italian: stiletto (it) m Japanese: 短剣 (ja) (たんけん, tanken), 小剣 (しょうけん, shōken), スティレット (sutiretto) Korean: 단검(短劍) (ko) (dan'geom), 스틸레토 (seutilleto) Lithuanian: stiletas m Polish: sztylet (pl) m Portuguese: estilete (pt) m Romanian: stilet (ro) n Russian: стиле́т (ru) m (stilét), ко́ртик (ru) m (kórtik) (dirk), кинжа́л (ru) m (kinžál) (dagger) Spanish: estilete (es) m Swedish: stilett (sv) c Ukrainian: стиле́т m (stylét)

rapier — see rapier

awl — see awl

woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel

Belarusian: шпі́лька f (špílʹka) Bulgarian: високи токчета (visoki tokčeta) Finnish: piikkikorkokenkä French: talon aiguille (fr) m (by ellipsis) German: Stöckelschuh (de) m, Stiletto (de) m Italian: tacco (it) m (by ellipsis) Macedonian: шти́кла f (štíkla) Polish: szpilka (pl) f Russian: шпи́лька (ru) f (špílʹka) Spanish: zapato de tacón de aguja m Swedish: stilettklack (sv) c Turkish: stiletto Ukrainian: шпи́лька f (špýlʹka)

Verb

stiletto (third-person singular simple present stilettos, present participle stilettoing, simple past and past participle stilettoed)

1. (transitive) To attack or kill with a stiletto (dagger).
   • 1834, Henry Tudor, Narrative of a Tour in North America

     The recollection of former atrocities by the populace in plundering the city and stilettoing the inhabitants, is sufficiently fresh in the remembrance of the government to serve as an additional stimulus to prevent similar disorders.

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Dutch

Etymology

From Italian stiletto.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

stiletto f (plural ?, diminutive stilettoke n)

1. stiletto

Synonyms

• hoge hakken (both for shoe and heel itself)

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Italian

Etymology 1

From stilo (“needle, stylus”) +‎ -etto.

Noun

stiletto m (plural stiletti)

1. (weaponry) stiletto, dagger

Derived terms

• stilettata

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

stiletto

1. first-person singular present indicative of stilettare

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian stiletto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /estiˈleto/ [es.t̪iˈle.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -eto

Noun

stiletto m (plural stilettos)

1. stiletto

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.