tête-à-tête

See also: tete-a-tete, tête à tête, and tete a tete

English

American tête-à-tête, c. 1887 (2)

Etymology

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/, /ˌteɪt.əˈteɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

tête-à-tête (plural tête-à-têtes)

1. A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.

   Synonym: head-to-head

   • 1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter XI, in The Banished Man. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages 225–226:

     From the tête-à-tête with Mr. Thomas Tough, ſhe goes to her deſk again, and begins to write "With what appetite ſhe may," in the forlorn hope of procuring from her bookſeller part of the money ſhe has been compelled to promiſe to the ſaid Thomas's peremptory demands, on behalf of Mr. Humphrey Hotgooſe—[…]

   • 2014 January 24, Lizzy Davies, “François Hollande affair allegations overshadow meeting with Pope Francis”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Despite their explorations of what the Vatican termed "the family", it was uncertain whether the pope and the president concerned themselves with such issues during their behind-closed-doors tête à tête.

   • 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian‎^[2], London:

     Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.

2. (furniture) A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face, especially one that is S-shaped.

   Synonyms: confidante, conversation bench, courting bench, kissing bench, love seat, vis-à-vis

3. A variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil.

Alternative forms

• tete-a-tete, tête à tête, tete a tete

Translations

face-to-face meeting

• Dutch: tête-à-tête (nl) n
• French: tête-à-tête (fr) m
• German: Tête-à-Tête (de) n
• Hindi: आमना-सामना (āmnā-sāmnā)
• Indonesian: empat mata (id), tête-à-tête
• Japanese: 密談 (ja) (mitsudan)
• Polish: tête-à-tête (pl) n
• Portuguese: tête-à-tête (pt) m
• Russian: личная встреча sg or f (leechnaya vstrecha, literally “personal meeting”)
• Tagalog: rayama
• Turkish: yüz yüze (tr)

Adverb

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. In private, between two people; head-to-head.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 10:

     In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited.

Further reading

• loveseat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛ.ta.tɛt/ ~ /te.ta.tɛt/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (Quebec):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

tête-à-tête m (plural tête-à-tête or tête-à-têtes)

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

Related terms

• tête à queue
• tête-à-queue

Further reading

• “tête-à-tête”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête.

Adjective

tête-à-tête

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

   Synonym: empat mata

Adverb

tête-à-tête

1. privately, in private, in secret

   Synonym: empat mata

Further reading

• “tête-à-tête” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛt.aˈtɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt
• Syllabification: tête-‧à-‧tête

Adverb

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. (literary) tête-à-tête (in private, between two people; head-to-head)

Noun

tête-à-tête n (indeclinable)

1. (literary) tête-à-tête (face-to-face meeting)

Further reading

• tête-à-tête in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛ.t͡ʃi.aˈtɛ.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛ.t͡ʃi.aˈtɛ.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛ.te.aˈtɛ.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛ.t‿aˈtɛ.tɨ/

Adverb

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. tête-à-tête (in private, between two people; head-to-head)

   Synonym: cara a cara

Noun

tête-à-tête m (uncountable)

1. tête-à-tête (face-to-face meeting)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête.

Noun

tête-à-tête n (plural tête-à-tête-uri)

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

Declension

Declension of tête-à-tête

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	tête-à-tête	tête-à-têteul		tête-à-tête-uri	tête-à-tête-urile
genitive-dative	tête-à-tête	tête-à-têteului		tête-à-tête-uri	tête-à-tête-urilor
vocative	tête-à-têteule			tête-à-tête-urilor

Swedish

Alternative forms

• tete-a-tete
• tätatät

Etymology

From French tête-à-tête.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛtaˈtɛːt/
• Rhymes: -ɛːt

• Audio (Småland):

  (file)

Noun

tête-à-tête c

1. an intimate meeting or conversation between two people; tête-à-tête
2. a variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil

Declension

Declension of tête-à-tête

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	tête-à-tête	tête-à-têtes
	definite	tête-à-têten	tête-à-têtens
plural	indefinite	tête-à-têter	tête-à-têters
	definite	tête-à-têterna	tête-à-têternas

References

• tête-à-tête in Svensk ordbok (SO)