different between subtlety vs talent

English

Alternative forms

• subtilty (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English sotilte, from Old French sutilté, inherited from Latin subt?lit?s, from subt?lis (“subtle”). Doublet of subtility.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?t(?)lti/

Noun

subtlety (countable and uncountable, plural subtleties)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being subtle.
   1. (of things) The quality of being scarcely noticeable or difficult to discern.
      • 1964, Saul Bellow, Herzog, New York: Viking, pp. 248-249,^[1]

        […] he had a lifetime of skill in interpreting his father’s gestures: those bent knees meant that something of great subtlety was about to be revealed.

   2. (of things) The quality of being done in a clever way that is not obvious or not direct; the quality of being carefully thought out.

      Synonym: refinement

   3. (of people) The quality of being able to achieve one's aims through clever, delicate or indirect methods.

      With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.

      Synonyms: discretion, finesse, savoir-faire

      • 1979, William Styron, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, Chapter 3, p. 74,^[2]

        European women often boss their men too, but with a beguiling subtlety unknown to most American females.

   4. (of people) The quality of being able to notice or understand things that are not obvious.

      Synonyms: acumen, perceptiveness, perspicacity

      • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Proverbs 1.4,^[3]

        To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

      • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Life of Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, London: T. Davies, p. 7,^[4]

        his subtilty in thinking and reasoning were profound,

2. (countable) An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.

   Synonyms: nicety, nuance

   • 1561, William Whittingham et al. (translators), Geneva Bible, Wisdom of Solomon 8.8,^[5]

     […] she [Wisdom] knoweth the subtilties of wordes, and the solutions of darke sentences:

   • 1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part 10, p. 112,^[6]

     It is your turn now […] to support your philosophical subtilties against the dictates of plain reason and experience.

   • 1887, Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders, London: Macmillan, Volume 2, Chapter 6, p. 104,^[7]

     She could not explain the subtleties of her feeling as clearly as he could state his opinion, even though she had skill in speech, and her father had none.

   • 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, London: Heinemann, Part 4, Chapter 36, p. 366,^[8]

     His body was as insensitive to pain as was his mind to subtleties.

3. (countable, historical) An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another.

   At the king's coronation feast, several subtleties were served between main courses.

   • 1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre [and] Yorke, London: Richard Grafton, “The triumphaunt reigne of Kyng Henry the .VIII.,”^[9]

     the seruice […] was sumpteous, with many subtleties, straunge deuises, with seuerall poses, and many deintie dishes.

4. (uncountable, countable, archaic) The quality of being clever in surreptitious or deceitful behaviour; an act or argument that shows this quality.

   Synonyms: artifice, craftiness, cunning, deceitfulness, slyness, trickery

   • 1575, George Gascoigne, The Noble Arte of Venerie of Hunting, London: Christopher Barker, “Termes generall of the huntesman, in hunting of any chase,” p. 243,^[10]

     When eyther Hare or Deare, or any other chase vseth subtleties to deceyue the houndes, we saye they crosse or double.

   • 1593, Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, London: William Ponsonby, Book 3, p. 181,^[11]

     [She] resolued now with plainnesse to winne trust, which trust she might after deceyue with a greater subtletie.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 2 Corinthians 11.3,^[12]

     But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintott, Volume 3, Observations on the Tenth Book, p. 136,^[13]

     […] the Spy was deceiv’d rather by the Art and Subtlety of Ulysses, than by his Falshood.

   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, in Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion, London: John Murray, Volume 4, Chapter 10, p. 220,^[14]

     Mr. Elliot’s subtleties, in endeavouring to prevent [the marriage]

5. (countable, obsolete) A trick that creates a false appearance.

   Synonyms: deception, illusion

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, London: Isaac Jaggard, 1623,^[15]

     You doe yet taste

     Some subtleties o’ th’ Isle, that will not let you

     Beleeue things certaine:

6. (uncountable, obsolete) The property of having a low density or thin consistency.
   • 1630, Thomas Johnson (translator/editor), A Treatise of the Plague […] Collected out of the workes of […] Ambrose Parey, London, Chapter 11, p. 33,^[16]

     Therefore at Paris where naturally, and also through the aboundance of filth that is about the Citie, the Aire is darke and grosse, the pestilent Infection is lesse fierce and contagious then it is in Prouince, for the subtletie of the Aire stimulates or helps forward the Plague.

   • 1692, Robert Boyle, General Heads for the Natural History of a Country Great or Small Drawn Out for the Use of Travellers and Navigators, London: John Tailor and S. Hedford, p. 3,^[17]

     About the Air is to be considered, its Temperature as to Heat, Dryness and Moisture, and the Measures of them, its Weight, Clearness, Refractive Power, its Subtilty or Grosness […]

7. (uncountable, obsolete) The property of being able to penetrate materials easily.

   Synonyms: penetrancy, piercingness

   • 1760, John Wesley, The Desideratum; or, Electricity Made Plain and Useful, London, pp. 37-38,^[18]

     Hence we see the amazing Subtlety of this Fire, which pervades Glass as readily as if nothing were in the Way.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English talent, from Old English talente, borrowed from the plural of Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”). Compare Old High German talenta (“talent”). Later senses from Old French talent (“talent, will, inclination, desire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tæl?nt/
• (UK, also) IPA^(key): /?tal?nt/
• Hyphenation: tal?ent

Noun

talent (plural talents)

1. A marked natural ability or skill. [from 15^thc.]

2. (historical) A unit of weight and money used in ancient times in Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Middle East. [from 9^thc.]
   • 1611, Authorized Version, Matthew XXV 14-15:

     For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

3. (obsolete) A desire or inclination for something. [14^th-16^thc.]
4. (business, media, sports) People of talent, viewed collectively; a talented person. [from 19^thc.]

5. (slang) The men or (especially) women of a place or area, judged by their attractiveness. [from 20^thc.]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:skill

Derived terms

• talent scout

Translations

Further reading

• talent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• talent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• antlet, latent, latten

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /t??lent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /t??len/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ta?lent/

Noun

talent m (plural talents)

1. talent (Greek money)
2. talent (skill)
3. hunger

   Synonym: gana

Derived terms

• atalentat
• talentós

Further reading

• “talent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

Noun

talent m

1. talent (unit of weight)
2. talent (actual or potential ability)

Synonyms

• (ability): nadání n

Related terms

• talentovaný

Further reading

• talent in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• talent in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Talent (“talent”), from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tal?nt/, [ta?l?n?d?]

Noun

talent n (singular definite talentet, plural indefinite talenter)

1. talent (potential or factual ability to perform a skill better than most people)

Inflection

See also

• talent on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Etymology 2

From Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tal?nt/, [ta?l?n?d?]

Noun

talent c (singular definite talenten, plural indefinite talenter)

1. talent (unit of weight and money)

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch talent, from Old French talent, from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “a particular weight, balance”), from Proto-Indo-European *tl?h?ent-, from *telh?-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta??l?nt/
• Hyphenation: ta?lent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

talent n (plural talenten, diminutive talentje n)

1. talent (gift, quality, capability)
2. (historical) talent (ancient weight, value of money or coin)

Derived terms

• met zijn talenten woekeren
• natuurtalent
• talentenjacht
• talentvol

Descendants

• Afrikaans: talent

Anagrams

• latten

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “balance; a particular weight, especially of gold; sum of money; a talent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.l??/

Noun

talent m (plural talents)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece) a talent (an obsolete unit of weight or money)
2. a talent, a gift, a knack

Derived terms

• talentueux

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• latent

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin talentum.

Noun

talent n (definite singular talentet, indefinite plural talent or talenter, definite plural talenta or talentene)

1. (a) talent

Derived terms

• talentfull

References

• “talent” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Medieval Latin talentum

Noun

talent n (definite singular talentet, indefinite plural talent, definite plural talenta)

1. (a) talent

Derived terms

• talentfull

References

• “talent” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Alternative forms

• talant

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (tálanton, “balance; a particular weight, especially of gold; sum of money; a talent”).

Noun

talent m (oblique plural talenz or talentz, nominative singular talenz or talentz, nominative plural talent)

1. desire; wish (to do something)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ta.l?nt/

Noun

talent m inan

1. talent, gift
2. (historical) talent (ancient unit of weight and money)

Declension

Noun

talent m pers

1. (metonymically) talented person

Declension

Romanian

Etymology

From French talente

Noun

talent n (plural talente)

1. talent

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• (Bosnian, Serbian): tàlenat

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?lent/
• Hyphenation: ta?lent

Noun

tàlent m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. (Croatia) talent

Declension

Welsh

Alternative forms

• talen (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /?tal?nt/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /?ta?l?nt/, /?tal?nt/

Etymology 1

talu +? -ent

Verb

talent

1. (literary) third-person plural imperfect/conditional of talu

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

Noun

talent m (plural talentau or talenti or talennau)

1. ability, aptitude
2. talent (“coin”)

Derived terms

• talentog (“talented”)

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “talent”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies