connoisseur

• connaisseur

Around 1705–1715, from French connoisseur, from the verb connoître (obsolete pre-1835 spelling of connaître (“to know”)).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑnəˈsɝ/, /ˌkɑnəˈsʊɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒnəˈsɜː/, /ˌkɒnəˈsʊə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ), -ʊə(ɹ)

connoisseur (plural connoisseurs)

1. A specialist in a given field whose opinion is highly valued, especially in one of the fine arts or in matters of taste.

   beer connoisseur

   chocolate connoisseur

   wine connoisseur

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     It is evident, in spite of his frequent attention to her while she draws, that in fact he knows nothing of the matter. He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur.

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XIX, in Middlemarch […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to VIII):

     No; nonsense, Naumann! English ladies are not at everybody’s service as models. And you want to express too much with your painting. You would only have made a better or worse portrait with a background which every connoisseur would give a different reason for or against.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.

   • 2002 October 20, Bob Morris, “The Age of Dissonance”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Real connoisseurs know that to nose and taste properly you have to add still water to your tulip-shaped glass so that the alcohol doesn't overwhelm you.

• maven
• cognoscente

• connoisseuse (informal, very rare)

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.nɛ.sœʁ/, /kɔ.ne.sœʁ/

connoisseur m (plural connoisseurs, feminine connoisseuse)

1. Obsolete spelling of connaisseur