elegant

See also: élégant and êlégant

English

Etymology

From Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin elegans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛl.ə.ɡənt/

Adjective

elegant (comparative more elegant, superlative most elegant)

1. Characterised by or exhibiting elegance.
   • 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better‎^[1], Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

     You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

2. Characterised by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision.

   an elegant solution

3. (Ireland, colloquial, archaic) Fine; doing well.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

     'An' how are ye, Jemmie—how's every inch iv you?' enquired Moggy of the boy, when his agitation was a little blown over.
     'I'm elegant, thank ye,' he answered; 'an' what's the matther wid ye all? I cum through the kitchen, and seen no one.'

Synonyms

• (exhibiting elegance): classy, graceful

Antonyms

• clumsy
• haphazard
• inelegant

Derived terms

• elegance

Translations

exhibiting elegance

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: елегантен, изискан (eleganten, iziskan)
• Catalan: elegant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 典雅 (zh) (diǎnyǎ), 文雅 (zh) (wényǎ), 高雅 (zh) (gāoyǎ)

• Czech: elegantní
• Danish: elegant (da)
• Dutch: elegant (nl), sierlijk (nl), gracieus (nl)
• Esperanto: eleganta
• Finnish: elegantti (fi), aistikas (fi), hienostunut (fi)
• French: élégant (fr)
• Galician: elegante (gl) m or f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: elegant (de), schick (de)
• Greek: κομψός (el) (kompsós)

  Ancient: κομψός (kompsós)

• Hebrew: אֶלֶגַנְטִי‎ (he) (elegánti), מְהֻדָּר‎ (he) (mehudár)
• Hungarian: elegáns (hu), előkelő (hu)
• Italian: elegante (it)

• Japanese: 優雅な (ja) (ゆうがな, yūga-na), 立派な (ja) (りっぱな, rippa-na), 高雅な (ja) (こうがな, kōga-na), 典雅な (てんがな, tenga-na)
• Kabuverdianu: janóta
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 우아한 (uahan)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: شۆخ‎ (ku) (shokh)

• Latin: facētus, ēlegans, venustus
• Maori: huatau, purotu, tōrire
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: elegancki (pl) m, elegancka f
• Portuguese: elegante (pt)
• Russian: элега́нтный (ru) (elegántnyj), шика́рный (ru) (šikárnyj), изя́щный (ru) (izjáščnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: elegantan (sh)
• Spanish: elegante (es), chic (es)
• Swedish: elegant (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: zarif (tr), kibar (tr), şık (tr)
• Urdu: شائسته‎
• Vietnamese: nhã nhặn (vi)

Anagrams

• angelet

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant (masculine and feminine plural elegants)

1. elegant

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Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French élégant, from Latin ēlegāns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eləɡant/, [eləˈɡ̊anˀd̥]

Adjective

elegant

1. elegant, smart
2. elegant, neat
3. (adverbial) elegantly, smartly, neatly

Inflection

Inflection of elegant
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	elegant	elegantere	elegantest2
Neuter singular	elegant	elegantere	elegantest2
Plural	elegante	elegantere	elegantest2
Definite attributive1	elegante	elegantere	eleganteste
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.

Derived terms

• uelegant

References

• “elegant” in Den Danske Ordbog

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

• (Southern) IPA^(key): /eləˈɣɑnt/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /eləˈxɑnt/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

elegant (comparative eleganter, superlative elegantst)

1. elegant

Inflection

Inflection of elegant
uninflected	elegant
inflected	elegante
comparative	eleganter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		elegant	eleganter	het elegantst het elegantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	elegante	elegantere	elegantste
	n. sing.	elegant	eleganter	elegantste
	plural	elegante	elegantere	elegantste
definite		elegante	elegantere	elegantste
partitive		elegants	eleganters	—

Synonyms

• sierlijk
• gracieus

Antonyms

• lomp
• plomp

Derived terms

• elegantie

Anagrams

• gelaten

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German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eleˈɡant/, /eləˈɡant/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant (comparative eleganter, superlative am elegantesten)

1. elegant

Declension

Positive forms of elegant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist elegant	sie ist elegant	es ist elegant	sie sind elegant
strong declension (without article)	nominative	eleganter	elegante	elegantes	elegante
	genitive	eleganten	eleganter	eleganten	eleganter
	dative	elegantem	eleganter	elegantem	eleganten
	accusative	eleganten	elegante	elegantes	elegante
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der elegante	die elegante	das elegante	die eleganten
	genitive	des eleganten	der eleganten	des eleganten	der eleganten
	dative	dem eleganten	der eleganten	dem eleganten	den eleganten
	accusative	den eleganten	die elegante	das elegante	die eleganten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein eleganter	eine elegante	ein elegantes	(keine) eleganten
	genitive	eines eleganten	einer eleganten	eines eleganten	(keiner) eleganten
	dative	einem eleganten	einer eleganten	einem eleganten	(keinen) eleganten
	accusative	einen eleganten	eine elegante	ein elegantes	(keine) eleganten

Comparative forms of elegant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist eleganter	sie ist eleganter	es ist eleganter	sie sind eleganter
strong declension (without article)	nominative	eleganterer	elegantere	eleganteres	elegantere
	genitive	eleganteren	eleganterer	eleganteren	eleganterer
	dative	eleganterem	eleganterer	eleganterem	eleganteren
	accusative	eleganteren	elegantere	eleganteres	elegantere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der elegantere	die elegantere	das elegantere	die eleganteren
	genitive	des eleganteren	der eleganteren	des eleganteren	der eleganteren
	dative	dem eleganteren	der eleganteren	dem eleganteren	den eleganteren
	accusative	den eleganteren	die elegantere	das elegantere	die eleganteren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein eleganterer	eine elegantere	ein eleganteres	(keine) eleganteren
	genitive	eines eleganteren	einer eleganteren	eines eleganteren	(keiner) eleganteren
	dative	einem eleganteren	einer eleganteren	einem eleganteren	(keinen) eleganteren
	accusative	einen eleganteren	eine elegantere	ein eleganteres	(keine) eleganteren

Superlative forms of elegant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist am elegantesten	sie ist am elegantesten	es ist am elegantesten	sie sind am elegantesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	elegantester	eleganteste	elegantestes	eleganteste
	genitive	elegantesten	elegantester	elegantesten	elegantester
	dative	elegantestem	elegantester	elegantestem	elegantesten
	accusative	elegantesten	eleganteste	elegantestes	eleganteste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der eleganteste	die eleganteste	das eleganteste	die elegantesten
	genitive	des elegantesten	der elegantesten	des elegantesten	der elegantesten
	dative	dem elegantesten	der elegantesten	dem elegantesten	den elegantesten
	accusative	den elegantesten	die eleganteste	das eleganteste	die elegantesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein elegantester	eine eleganteste	ein elegantestes	(keine) elegantesten
	genitive	eines elegantesten	einer elegantesten	eines elegantesten	(keiner) elegantesten
	dative	einem elegantesten	einer elegantesten	einem elegantesten	(keinen) elegantesten
	accusative	einen elegantesten	eine eleganteste	ein elegantestes	(keine) elegantesten

Further reading

• elegant in Duden online

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Middle French

Adjective

elegant m (feminine singular elegante, masculine plural elegants, feminine plural elegantes)

1. elegant

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant

Adjective

elegant (neuter singular elegant, definite singular and plural elegante)

1. elegant

Related terms

• eleganse

References

• “elegant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant

Adjective

elegant (neuter singular elegant, definite singular and plural elegante)

1. elegant

Related terms

• eleganse

References

• “elegant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swedish

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛlɛˈɡant/

Adjective

elegant (comparative elegantare, superlative elegantast)

1. elegant

Declension

Inflection of elegant
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	elegant	elegantare	elegantast
Neuter singular	elegantt	elegantare	elegantast
Plural	eleganta	elegantare	elegantast
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	elegante	elegantare	elegantaste
All	eleganta	elegantare	elegantaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.

See also

• elegans c (noun)

References

• elegant in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• elegant in Svenska Akademiens ordbok online.