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delicate

/ˈdɛl.ɪ.kɪt/adjective, noun

delicate is spelled D-E-L-I-C-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, delicate means “Easily damaged or requiring careful handling” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in delicate?

Letters8: D-E-L-I-C-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,009th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is delicate?

Delicate appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce delicate?

  • UK /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/
  • US /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kɪt/
  • US /ˈdɛl.ə.kɪt/

Delicate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-delicate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of delicate

  • more delicate comparative
  • delicater comparative
  • most delicate superlative
  • delicatest superlative
  • delicates plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does delicate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.

    Those clothes are made from delicate lace.

  2. 2

    Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.

    Her face was delicate.

  3. 3

    Intended for use with fragile items.

    Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.

  4. 4

    Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.

    delicate behaviour

  5. 5

    Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.

    a delicate child

  6. 6

    informalUnwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.

    Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.

  7. 7

    obsoleteAddicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.

  8. 8

    Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.

    a delicate dish

noun

  1. 1

    A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.

    Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!

  2. 2

    obsoleteA choice dainty; a delicacy.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

  4. 4

    A moth of the species Mythimna vitellina.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Delicate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdélicat (easily damaged or requiring careful handling)
Germanempfindlich, heikel, schwierig (easily damaged or requiring careful handling), feingliedrig, filigran, zart (characterized by a fine structure or thin lines)
Portuguesedelicado (easily damaged or requiring careful handling)
Spanishdelicado (easily damaged or requiring careful handling)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does delicate come from?

From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, (in Medieval Latin also) fine, slender”), from dēlicia + -ātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“to allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”). The noun is from a substantivization of the adjective (see -ate).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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