different between cad vs finesse

English

Etymology

Short for caddie, from Scots, from French cadet, from dialectal capdet (“chief, captain”), from Latin capitellum, diminutive of caput (“head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kæd/
• Rhymes: -æd

Noun

cad (plural cads)

1. A low-bred, presuming person; a mean, vulgar fellow.

   Synonyms: villain, dog
2. (archaic) A person who stands at the door of an omnibus to open and shut it, and to receive fares; a bus conductor.
   • c. 1835, Charles Dickens, "Omnibuses" (in Sketches by Boz)

     We will back the machine in which we make our daily peregrination from the top of Oxford-street to the city, against any buss on the road, whether it be for the gaudiness of its exterior, the perfect simplicity of its interior, or the native coolness of its cad.

3. (Britain, obsolete, slang) An idle hanger-on about innyards.

Derived terms

• caddish

Translations

See also

• no way to treat a lady

Anagrams

• ACD, ADC, CDA, D.Ac., DAC, DAc, DAc., DCA

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• cadu

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *cade?, from Latin cad?. Compare Daco-Romanian c?dea, cad.

Verb

cad (third-person singular present indicative cadi/cade, past participle cãdzutã)

1. I fall.

Related terms

• cãdeari/cãdeare
• cãderi
• cãdzut
• cãdzui
• scad

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cid, from Proto-Celtic *k?id, from Proto-Indo-European *k?id, compare *k?is.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kad??/

Pronoun

cad

1. (interrogative) what
2. (Munster) (interrogative) where

Synonyms

• céard
• cad é
• caidé

Derived terms

• cad chuige (“why”)
• cad ina thaobh (“why”)

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “1 cía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• “cad” in Foclóir Gae?ilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 1st ed., 1904, by Patrick S. Dinneen, page 103.
• "cad" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kad/
• Rhymes: -ad

Verb

cad

1. first-person singular present indicative of c?dea
2. first-person singular present subjunctive of c?dea
3. third-person plural present indicative of c?dea

Somali

Noun

cad ?

1. white

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka?d/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *kad (“battle”), from Proto-Celtic *katus (compare Old Irish cath), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh?tus (“fight”).

Noun

cad f (plural cadau or cadoedd)

1. battle, army

Derived terms

• Cadan

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• caed, cafwyd

Verb

cad

1. impersonal preterite of cael

Mutation

English

Etymology

From Middle English f?nesse (“degree of excellence; (of metal) fineness, purity”), from Middle French finesse, Old French finesse (“fineness; delicacy; slenderness”), from fine, fin (“fine, thin”) (from Latin f?nis (“end”); compare Middle English f?n (“of superior quality; precious, valuable; admirable, pleasing; pure, refined; fineness, purity; delicate, exquisite, fine; sharp, thin”)) + -esse (suffix forming nouns describing the condition of being something).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??n?s/, /f?-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??n?s/, /f?-/
• Hyphenation: fin?esse

Noun

finesse (countable and uncountable, plural finesses)

1. (uncountable) Skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation. [from c. 1520]

   Synonym: finessing
2. (uncountable) The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill. [from mid 16th c.]
3. (countable) An adroit manoeuvre. [from mid 16th c.]
4. (countable, card games) In bridge, whist, etc.: a technique which allows one to win a trick, usually by playing a card when it is thought that a card that can beat it is held by another player whose turn is over. [from early 18th c.]

Translations

Verb

finesse (third-person singular simple present finesses, present participle finessing, simple past and past participle finessed)

1. (transitive, chiefly Canada, US, politics) To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or strategem.
   • 2018, John C. Hull, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (10th ed.), Pearson (2018), p. 276

     Almost miraculously, [risk-neutral valuation] finesses the problem that we know hardly anything about the risk aversion of the buyers and sellers of options.

2. (transitive, card games) To play (a card) as a finesse. [from mid 18th c.]
3. (transitive, intransitive) To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way. [from mid 18th c.]

   Synonym: (slang) zhoosh
4. (intransitive, card games) To attempt to win a trick by finessing. [from mid 18th c.]
5. (intransitive, croquet, obsolete) To play a ball out of the way of an opponent.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• finesse (card games) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• finesse (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From fin +? -esse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.n?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

finesse f (plural finesses)

1. fineness (of hair, writing etc.)
2. thinness
3. keenness, sharpness (of blade)
4. fineness, delicacy; slenderness
5. perceptiveness; sensitivity, finesse

Further reading

• “finesse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).