éminence grise

Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): (also of éminences grises) /ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/, /ˌeɪ-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): (also of éminences grises) /ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/, /ˌeɪ-/
• Rhymes: -iːz
• Hyphenation: émi‧nence grise

• Audio (US):

  (file)

éminence grise (plural éminences grises or éminence grises)

1. (idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker.

   Synonyms: power behind the throne, gray eminence

   • 1987 July 12, John A[rthur] Garraty, “Harry’s Luck ”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 December 2020, page 28:

     But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.

   • 2009 September 16, Coco Masters, “Japan’s New Prime Minister—and New Shadow Shogun”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2017:

     [Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.

• eminence grise

• puppetmaster
• svengali

• éminence grise on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• éminence grise, eminence grise, gray eminence, grey eminence at Google Ngram Viewer

From éminence + grise, originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit.

• IPA^(key): /e.mi.nɑ̃s ɡʁiz/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: émi‧nence grise

éminence grise f (plural éminences grises)

1. (idiomatic) éminence grise

• → English: éminence grise
• → German: graue Eminenz (calque)