首页英语词典subtilesubtile的意思

subtile

英 ['sʌbtəl] 美['sʌbtɪl]
  • adj. 微妙的;狡猾的;敏锐的;隐约的
最后更新时间:2025-06-08

英文词源


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").