connaisseur

See also: Connaisseur

English

Etymology

Either a borrowing of the French connaisseur (literally “knower, one who knows”) or an updating of the earlier borrowing, connoisseur, to bring it into line with modern French orthography.

Noun

connaisseur (plural connaisseurs)

1. A specialist of a given field, especially in one of the fine arts or in a matter of taste: a connoisseur.
   • 1847, L. Piale (publisher), Guide to Naples and Sicily, Part I: Naples, page 42:

     The gallery of Prince Valsavoja contains about 100 pictures several of which deserve the attention of the artist and connaisseur.

   • 1890, Hamilton Aïdé, “Manners and Customs of Sicily in 1890” in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century: a monthly review (July–December 1890), page 579:

     They pass their Sundays agreeably, in complete repose: seated outside their doors, dressed in the best clothes, and displaying, with serene satisfaction, the many rings, pendants, and huge earrings of rare beauty, inherited for many past generations, and which possess an individual character that the connaisseur at once recognises.

   • 1994, Yirmiyahu Yovel, Gideon Segal, editors, Spinoza on Knowledge and the Human Mind: Papers Presented at the Second Jerusalem Conference, page xii:

     The support of Mr. Albert Igoin, a Spinoza reader and connaisseur of long date, is particularly appreciated.

   • 2004, Arthur Hartkamp, Carla Joustra, Towards a European Civil Code: Third Fully Revised and Expanded Edition, Kluwer Law International, footnote, page 159:

     But it needed a connaisseur of Roman law, namely Wolfgang Ernst, Bonn/Cambridge, to remind me that justum facere is the common root of Recht-Fertigung and justification.

Synonyms

• connoisseur

Coordinate terms

• connaisseuse

Anagrams

• sea unicorns

French

Alternative forms

• connoisseur (obsolete)

Etymology

From connaître +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.nɛ.sœʁ/, /kɔ.ne.sœʁ/

• Audio

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Noun

connaisseur m (plural connaisseurs, feminine connaisseuse)

1. connoisseur

Descendants

• → German: Connaisseur

Further reading

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