different between filigree vs arabesque

English

Alternative forms

• filagree
• fillagree, filligree (archaic)

Etymology

From French filigrane, from Italian filigrana, from Latin f?lum (“thread”) + gr?num (“grain”)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?f?l.?.??i?/

Noun

filigree (countable and uncountable, plural filigrees)

1. A delicate and intricate ornamentation made from gold or silver (or sometimes other metal) twisted wire.
   • 1844, Robert Browning, "The Labratory":

     To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,

     A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket!

2. A design resembling such intricate ornamentation.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 1:

     But why speak about her? It is probable that we shall not hear of her again from this moment to the end of time, and that when the great filigree iron gates are once closed on her, she and her awful sister will never issue therefrom into this little world of history.

Translations

Verb

filigree (third-person singular simple present filigrees, present participle filigreeing, simple past and past participle filigreed)

1. (transitive) To decorate something with intricate ornamentation made from gold or silver twisted wire.

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French arabesque, from Italian arabesco, from arabo (“Arab”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?æ?.??b?sk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æ?.??b?sk/

Noun

arabesque (plural arabesques)

1. (art, architecture, also attributively) An elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic Art and architecture.

   • The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth?; […]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “?near-aissance.”

2. (music) An ornate composition, especially for the piano.
3. (ballet) A dance position in which the dancer stands on one leg, with the other raised backwards, and the arms outstretched.
4. (by extension, attributively) Elaborate or ornate creations in general.
   • 2003, Robert Irwin, The Arabian Nights: A Companion, page 210:

     In characterizing some of his tales as 'Arabesque', Poe intended no specific reference to the Arab manner of telling stories. He only used the term to refer to intricately patterned tales (intricate as the design of an oriental carpet) in which the centre of interest lay in the cunningly crafted plot, […]

Translations

Further reading

• arabesque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• arabesque (ballet position) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• arabesque (classical music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Arabesque in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian arabesco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.?a.b?sk/

Noun

arabesque f (plural arabesques)

1. arabesque

Descendants

• ? English: arabesque

Adjective

arabesque (plural arabesques)

1. (obsolete) Arabic (relating to Arabic peoples)

Further reading

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