| svelte \SVELT\ (adjective) - Slim, slender; elegant, graceful.
"Jean-Anne, you look so svelte in the area covered by your new swim suit!"
French, from Italian svelto, past participle of svellere "to stretch out" devolved from Vulgar Latin *exvellere based on ex- "out" + vellere "to pull." Where the root of the Latin word comes from is difficult to say. It apparently comes from an underlying *wel- but that root in PIE seems to have been "roll, twist," not "stretch" or "pull." If they are related, the root here is akin to German Welle "wave," walzen "roll," and English "envelop(e)." This adjective compares the old fashioned way: "svelter" and "sveltest." The noun is "svelteness" and the adverb, "sveltely," though we recommend you avoid words this lumpish and ungainly. "Svelte" sounds as sophisticated as its meaning but it has a family of black sheep. The connection it makes between "slender" and "elegant" reflects Western societies bias against the zaftig. |
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