# delicate
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, (in Medieval Latin also) fine, slender”), from dēlicia +‎ -ātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“I allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“I lure, I deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”). The noun is from a substantivization of the adjective (see -ate).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈdɛlɪkət/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Adjective

delicate (comparative more delicate, superlative most delicate)
* Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
    Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
    The negotiations were very delicate.
** 1850 April 18, Frederik W. Robertson, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Working Man's Institute‎, page 5:There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
** 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian‎:The final vote between Hollande and Sarkozy now depends on a delicate balance of how France's total of rightwing and leftwing voters line up.
* Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
** 2021, “Silk in the Strings”, performed by Spiritbox:You crush a delicate moth wing I see the stain on your fingertips
    Her face was delicate.
    The spider wove a delicate web.
    There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
* Intended for use with fragile items.
    Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
* Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
    delicate behaviour
    delicate attentions
    delicate thoughtfulness
* Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
    a delicate child
    delicate health
** c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:a delicate and tender prince
* (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
    Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
* (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
** circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
    Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
* Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
    a delicate dish
    delicate flavour
** 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.
* Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
** c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], lines 18 and 20–21:Cassio: She’s a most exquisite lady. […] Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
* Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
    a delicate shade of blue
* Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
* Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
    a delicate taste
    a delicate ear for music
* Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
    a delicate thermometer

#### Synonyms

* (easily damaged): fragile

#### Derived terms

* delicateness
* hyperdelicate
* indelicate
* overdelicate
* semidelicate
* superdelicate
* ultradelicate
* undelicate

#### Related terms

* delicacy
* delicately
* delicatessen
* delicious
* delight

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: デリケート (derikēto)

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

delicate (plural delicates)
* A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
    Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
* (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
** 1712, William King, The Art of Cookery, in Imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry:With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.
* (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
** 1830, “The Barge's Crew”, in The Log Book; Or, Nautical Miscellany‎, page 341:A council of war was called, and the delicates met in the great cabin ; the platform was rigged up on the forecastle, the yard-rope rove, and the signal made for all boats to attend execution
** 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC:If Lucullus were not a waster and a delicate given to belly-cheare.
* A moth, Mythimna vitellina

### Further reading

* “delicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “delicate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /de.liˈka.te/
* Rhymes: -ate
* Hyphenation: de‧li‧cà‧te

### Adjective

delicate f pl
* feminine plural of delicato

### Anagrams

* dateceli

## Latin
### Adjective

dēlicāte
* vocative masculine singular of dēlicātus

### References

* “delicate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “delicate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* delicate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Romanian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /deliˈkate/

### Adjective

delicate
* feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of delicat