subtil

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English

Alternative forms

Adjective

subtil (comparative more subtil, superlative most subtil)

  1. Obsolete form of subtle; sly, artful, cunning
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 3:1:
      Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?
    • 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.

References

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin subtīlis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

subtil m or f (masculine and feminine plural subtils)

  1. subtle

Derived terms

Further reading

Danish

Etymology

From Latin subtīlis (fine, thin), from sub + tēla (a web).

Pronunciation

Adjective

subtil

  1. subtle

Inflection

Inflection of subtil
Positive Comparative Superlative
Indefinte common singular subtil 2
Indefinite neuter singular subtilt 2
Plural subtile 2
Definite attributive1 subtile
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

French

Etymology

From Middle French subtil, from Old French subtil (13th c.), byform of sotil (12th c.), itself inherited from Latin subtīlis. Old French subtil may still represent the inherited form if it stands for the pronunciation /su.til/. The modern /y/ is of semi-learned origin. The b probably came to be pronounced even later; Middle French variant spellings like sutil, suttil suggest that it was still mostly silent.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /syp.til/
  • Audio:(file)

Adjective

subtil (feminine subtile, masculine plural subtils, feminine plural subtiles)

  1. subtle

Further reading

German

Etymology

From Middle High German subtīl (13th c.), from Latin subtīlis. It was fairly well integrated in Middle High German. Accordingly a diphthongised form subteil is attested (albeit rarely) and the word is also current in some dialects. Since the 18th century it has become less frequent and more restricted to learned parlance.

Pronunciation

Adjective

subtil (strong nominative masculine singular subtiler, comparative subtiler, superlative am subtilsten)

  1. subtle
    Synonyms: fein, feinfühlig, feinsinnig, unterschwellig

Declension

Further reading

  • subtil” in Duden online
  • subtil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle English

Adjective

subtil

  1. Alternative form of sotil

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin subtilis.

Adjective

subtil (masculine and feminine subtil, neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)

  1. subtle

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin subtilis.

Adjective

subtil (neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)

  1. subtle

References

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /subˈt͡ʃiw/ , /su.biˈt͡ʃiw/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /subˈt͡ʃiw/
 

  • Rhymes: (Portugal) -il, (Brazil) -iw
  • Hyphenation: sub‧til

Adjective

subtil m or f (plural subtis)

  1. European Portuguese standard spelling of sutil.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French subtil and Latin subtīlis. Doublet of subțire.

Pronunciation

Adjective

subtil m or n (feminine singular subtilă, masculine plural subtili, feminine and neuter plural subtile)

  1. subtle

Declension

Swedish

Adjective

subtil (comparative subtilare, superlative subtilast)

  1. subtle

Declension

Inflection of subtil
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular subtil subtilare subtilast
Neuter singular subtilt subtilare subtilast
Plural subtila subtilare subtilast
Masculine plural3 subtile subtilare subtilast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 subtile subtilare subtilaste
All subtila subtilare subtilaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

References