subtile
English
Etymology
From Latin subtilis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsʌt.əl/, /ˈsʌb.tɪl/, /ˈsʌb.təl/
Adjective
subtile (comparative subtiler, superlative subtilest)
- Archaic spelling of subtle.
- 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.
- 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:
- And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not.
- 1888, Henry James, chapter 2, in The Solution:
- I burst into mirth at this—I liked him even better when he was subtile than when he was simple.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “subtile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “subtile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
French
Pronunciation
Adjective
subtile
- feminine singular of subtil
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
subtile
- inflection of subtil:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Latin
Adjective
subtīle
- nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of subtīlis
References
- "subtile", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Middle English
Adjective
subtile
- alternative form of sotil
Noun
subtile
- alternative form of sotil
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
subtile
- definite singular/plural of subtil
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
subtile
- definite singular/plural of subtil
Swedish
Adjective
subtile
- definite natural masculine singular of subtil