finesse
French, noun/fi.nɛs/
finesse is spelled F-I-N-E-S-S-E (7 letters) and appears 5.9 times per million words in written French, the 9,981st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Finesse is a French feminine noun meaning “fineness (of hair, writing etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qualité de ce qui est fin, délié ou menu”.
What does finesse mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininefineness (of hair, writing etc.)
- 2
femininethinness
- 3
femininekeenness, sharpness (of blade)
- 4
femininefineness, delicacy; slenderness
- 5
feminineperceptiveness; sensitivity, finesse
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Qualité de ce qui est fin, délié ou menu. 2. Qualité ce qui a une forme délicate et agréable. 3. Manière de peindre, de graver, de dessiner légère, délicate et gracieuse ; effet qui en résulte. 4. Effets de touche, de ton, remarquables par leur légèreté, leur grâce, leur délicatesse.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of finesse
- finesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce finesse?
- /fi.nɛs/
- \fi.nɛs\
- [fi.nɛs]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to finesse
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is finesse in French?
finesse appears 5.9 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).