Exquisite

How to spell exquisite

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce exquisite

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exquisite mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely beautiful, delicate, or finely crafted.

Exquisite in a sentence

• The jeweller showed her an exquisite diamond bracelet.

• The restaurant served an exquisite dessert with spun sugar.

Where does exquisite come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin exquisitus, the past participle of exquirere, which meant 'to search out' or 'to seek diligently'. That verb was built from ex- meaning 'out' and quaerere meaning 'to seek' or 'to ask', the same root that gives us 'query', 'question', and 'inquire'. Something exquisite was therefore literally something 'sought out' with great care, and the sense naturally drifted toward 'carefully chosen' and then 'choice, refined, of the highest quality'. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, at first stressing the idea of meticulous attention, before settling on the modern meaning of delicate, intense beauty or perfection. The buried Latin quaerere is a useful spelling cue: the awkward 'qui' in the middle is the same 'seek' element that sits inside 'acquire' and 'require'.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• quis (from quaerere: to seek, search)
• -ite (adjective suffix)