# subtil
## English
### Alternative forms

* subtill

### Adjective

subtil (comparative more subtil, superlative most subtil)
* Obsolete form of subtle; sly, artful, cunning
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:1:Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Wisdom of Solomon 7:22–23:For wisedome which is the worker of all things, taught mee: for in her is an vnderstanding spirit holy, one onely, manifold, subtile, liuely, cleare, vndefiled, plaine, not subiect to hurt, louing the thing that is good, quicke, which cānot be letted, ready to do good: Kinde to man, stedfast, sure, free from care, hauing all power, ouerseeing all things, and going through all vnderstanding, pure, and most subtile spirits.

### References

* subtil in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.

### Anagrams

* builts, bultis

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin subtīlis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [supˈtil]

### Adjective

subtil m or f (masculine and feminine plural subtils)
* subtle

#### Derived terms

* subtilesa
* subtilment

### Further reading

* “subtil” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
* “subtil”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “subtil” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Danish
### Etymology

From Latin subtīlis (“fine, thin”), from sub + tēla (“a web”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /subtiːl/, [sub̥ˈtˢiːˀl]

### Adjective

subtil
* subtle

#### Inflection

$^1$ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. $^2$ The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

### References

* “subtil” in Den Danske Ordbog

## French
### Etymology

From Middle French subtil, from Old French subtil (13th c.), byform of sotil (12th c.), itself inherited from Latin subtīlis. Old French subtil may still represent the inherited form if it stands for the pronunciation /su.til/. The modern /y/ is of semi-learned origin. The b probably came to be pronounced even later; Middle French variant spellings like sutil, suttil suggest that it was still mostly silent.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /syp.til/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

subtil (feminine subtile, masculine plural subtils, feminine plural subtiles)
* subtle

### Further reading

* “subtil”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Etymology

From Middle High German subtīl (13th c.), from Latin subtīlis. It was fairly well integrated in Middle High German. Accordingly a diphthongised form subteil is attested (albeit rarely) and the word is also current in some dialects. Since the 18th century it has become less frequent and more restricted to learned parlance.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /zʊpˈtiːl/
* Audio (Berlin):(file)
* Audio (Austria):(file)

### Adjective

subtil (strong nominative masculine singular subtiler, comparative subtiler, superlative am subtilsten)
* subtle
    Synonyms: fein, feinfühlig, feinsinnig, unterschwellig

#### Related terms

* Subtilität

### Further reading

* “subtil” in Duden online
* “subtil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Middle English
### Adjective

subtil
* Alternative form of sotil

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Latin subtilis.

### Adjective

subtil (masculine and feminine subtil, neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)
* subtle

### References

* “subtil” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “subtil” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Latin subtilis.

### Adjective

subtil (neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)
* subtle

### References

* “subtil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /subˈt͡ʃiw/ [subˈt͡ʃiʊ̯], /su.biˈt͡ʃiw/ [su.biˈt͡ʃiʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /subˈt͡ʃiw/ [subˈt͡ʃiʊ̯], /su.biˈt͡ʃiw/ [su.biˈt͡ʃiʊ̯]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /subˈt͡ʃiw/ [subˈt͡ʃiʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /suˈbtil/ [suˈβtiɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /suˈbtil/ [suˈβtiɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /suˈbti.li/ [suˈβti.li]
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -il, (Brazil) -iw
* Hyphenation: sub‧til

### Adjective

subtil m or f (plural subtis)
* European Portuguese standard spelling of sutil.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French subtil and Latin subtīlis. Doublet of subțire.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /subˈtil/

### Adjective

subtil m or n (feminine singular subtilă, masculine plural subtili, feminine and neuter plural subtile)
* subtle

#### Related terms

* subtilitate
* subtiliza
* subtilizare
* subtilizat

## Swedish
### Adjective

subtil (comparative subtilare, superlative subtilast)
* subtle

#### Declension

$^1$ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. $^2$ Dated or archaic. $^3$ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

#### Related terms

* subtilitet (“subtlety”)

### References

* subtil in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* subtil in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* subtil in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)