connoisseur

English

Alternative forms

• connaisseur

Etymology

Around 1705–1715, from French connoisseur, from the verb connoître (obsolete pre-1835 spelling of connaître (“to know”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɑnəˈsɝ/, /ˌkɑnəˈsʊɹ/
• IPA^(key): /ˌkɒnəˈsɜː/, /ˌkɒnəˈsʊə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ), -ʊə(ɹ)

Noun

connoisseur (plural connoisseurs)

1. A specialist in a given field whose opinion is highly valued, especially in one of the fine arts or in matters of taste.
   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     It is evident, in spite of his frequent attention to her while she draws, that in fact he knows nothing of the matter. He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur.

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XIX, in Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to VIII):

     No; nonsense, Naumann! English ladies are not at everybody’s service as models. And you want to express too much with your painting. You would only have made a better or worse portrait with a background which every connoisseur would give a different reason for or against.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.

   • 2002 October 20, Bob Morris, “The Age of Dissonance”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Real connoisseurs know that to nose and taste properly you have to add still water to your tulip-shaped glass so that the alcohol doesn't overwhelm you.

Synonyms

• maven
• cognoscente

Derived terms

• connoisseurdom
• connoisseurial
• connoisseurly
• connoisseurship

 

Coordinate terms

• connoisseuse (informal, very rare)

Translations

specialist whose opinion is valued

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鑒定家／鉴定家, 鉴定家 (jiàndìngjiā), 鉴赏家 (jiànshǎngjiā)

• Czech: znalec (cs) m
• Dutch: kenner (nl) m, deskundige (nl) m
• Finnish: tuntija (fi), erikoistuntija
• French: connaisseur (fr) m
• German: Kenner (de) m
• Greek: ειδήμων (el) m or f (eidímon), κονεσέρ (el) m or f (konesér)
• Hebrew: מומחה (he) m
• Hungarian: műértő (hu)
• Italian: intenditore (it) m, conoscitore (it) m; esperto (it) m; connaisseur m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 鑑定家 (かんていか, kanteika), 目利き (mekiki), 鑑識家
• Korean: 감정가 (gamjeongga)
• Macedonian: познавач m (poznavač)
• Polish: koneser (pl) m, znawca (pl) m
• Portuguese: connaisseur (pt) m; (Brazil): conhecedor (pt) m, perito (pt) m
• Russian: знато́к (ru) m (znatók), цени́тель (ru) m (cenítelʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: znalac (sh) m, ekspert (sh)
• Slovak: znalec m
• Spanish: connaisseur m; connoisseur m
• Swedish: konnässör (sv) c, kännare (sv) c
• Turkish: meraklı (tr) (taste), mütehassıs (tr), uzman (tr), (taste) erbap (tr)
• Ukrainian: знаве́ць m (znavécʹ), ціни́тель (uk) m (cinýtelʹ) (of art, beauty), цінува́ч m (cinuváč), цінува́льник (uk) m (cinuválʹnyk)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.nɛ.sœʁ/ ~ /kɔ.ne.sœʁ/

Noun

connoisseur m (plural connoisseurs, feminine connoisseuse)

1. Obsolete spelling of connaisseur.