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Added 9 October 2026

delicate

/ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/ adjective

In Latin: tener Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about delicate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
Her face was delicate.
Intended for use with fragile items.
Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.

noun

A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
A choice dainty; a delicacy.
A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

Origin

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 (“to allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to 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).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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