panache
See also: panaché
English
WOTD – 16 February 2008
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French panache, from Middle French pennache (“plume of feathers”), from Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum. Doublet of pinnacle.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pəˈnæʃ/, /pəˈnɑːʃ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -æʃ
Noun
panache (countable and uncountable, plural panaches)
- (countable) An ornamental plume on a helmet.
- 1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 4, in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard:
- I had taken the panache from my shako so that it might escape notice, but even with my fine overcoat I feared that sooner or later my uniform would betray me.
- (uncountable, figurative) Flamboyance, energetic style or action.
- Synonyms: dash, flamboyance, swagger, verve
- 1894, Kate Chopin, “At the 'Cadian Ball”, in Bayou Folk:
- One old gentleman, who was in the habit of reading a Paris newspaper and knew things, chuckled gleefully to everybody that Alcée’s conduct was altogether chic, mais chic. That he had more panache than Boulanger. Well, perhaps he had.
- 1988 December 11, Thomas M. Disch, “Lost in Cyberspace”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Cyberpunk caters to the wish-fulfillment requirements of male teen-agers, but this is a job that can be done with varying degrees of panache, and there is currently no more accomplished caterer than William Gibson.
Translations
ornamental helmet plume
|
flamboyant style or action
|
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French pennache (“plume of feathers”), borrowed from Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum. Doublet of pinacle.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pa.naʃ/
Audio (file)
Noun
panache m (plural panaches)
Synonyms
- (flamboyant style): flamboyance, verve, brio, bravoure
Further reading
- “panache”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- panache on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French panache, itself from Italian pennacchio.
Further reading
- panache in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.