subtile
pronunciation
How to pronounce subtile in British English:
UK ['sʌbtɪl]
How to pronounce subtile in American English:
US ['sʌbtɪl]
Word Origin
- subtile (adj.)
- late 14c., "clever, dexterous, crafty; not dense, thin, rarefied," from Old French subtil (14c.), a learned Latinized reformation of earlier sotil (12c.), source of subtle (q.v.). Still used in some Bible translations in Gen. iii:1, and it survived after 17c. as a parallel formation to subtle in some material senses ("fine, delicate, thin").
Example
- 1. He lives by his subtile income .
- 2. Histories make wise ; poets witty ; the mathematics subtile ; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave ; logic and rhetoric able to contend .
- 3. Histories make men wise ; poems nitty ; the mathematics subtile ; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave ; logic and rhetoric able to contend .
- 4. Histories make men wise ; poems witty ; the mathematics subtile ; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave ; logic and rhetoric able to contend .
- 5. Istories make men wise ; poems nitty ; the mathematics subtile ; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave ; logic and rhetoric able to contend .