dilettante

English

WOTD – 25 July 2010

Alternative forms

• dilettant

Etymology

From Italian dilettante, present participle of dilettare (“to delight”), from Latin dēlectāre (“to delight”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪlɪˈtænti/, /dɪləˈtɒnti/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪlɪˌtɑnt/, /ˈdɪlɪˌtænt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtɑnt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtænt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtɑnteɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

dilettante (plural dilettanti or dilettantes)

1. An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.

   Synonyms: amateur, dabbler

   Antonym: professional

2. (sometimes derogatory) A person with a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge.
   • 2008 March, Paul Graham, How to Disagree‎^[1]:

     A comment like "The author is a self-important dilettante." is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."

   • 2024 October 31, Stephanie Amante-Ritter, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” (3:33 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks‎^[2], season 5, episode 3, spoken by Andy Billups (Paul Scheer):

     “Call me Zack Ransom.” “And I'm Gilbert Manhandle, literary dilettante with a gambling addiction.” “Nobody's going to remember that. You can be Zandy Billups.” “Fine. But I'm still a gambling addict.”

Usage notes

• Contrary to common belief, this word is actually derived from Italian, not from French, in which the -ante ending would be feminine. This word is therefore correct for a person of any gender.

Derived terms

• dilettantely
• dilettanteship
• dilettantish, dilettanteish
• dilettantism, dilettanteism

Related terms

• delectable
• delight
• dildo (by way of 'diletto')

Translations

someone who dabbles — see also dabbler,‎ amateur

• Armenian: դիլետանտ (hy) (diletant)
• Belarusian: дылета́нт m (dyljetánt), дылета́нтка f (dyljetántka)
• Bulgarian: дилета́нт (bg) m (diletánt), дилета́нтка f (diletántka)
• Catalan: diletant, aficionat (ca) m, aficionada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 業餘愛好者 / 业余爱好者 (zh) (yèyú àihàozhě)

• Czech: diletant (cs) m, diletantka (cs) f
• Dutch: liefhebber (nl) m, amateur (nl) m
• Esperanto: diletanto, amatoro
• Finnish: harrastelija (fi), diletantti (fi)
• French: dilettante (fr) m or f
• Georgian: დილეტანტი (dileṭanṭi)
• German: Dilettant (de) m, Dilettantin (de) f, Amateur (de) m, Amateurin (de) f, Stümper (de) m, Stümperin (de) f, Laie (de) m, Laiin (de) f
• Hebrew: חוֹבְבָן m (h'ovevan)
• Hindi: अध्‍यवसायी m (adh‍yavsāyī), अपूर्ण ज्ञाता m (apūrṇ jñātā)
• Hungarian: műkedvelő (hu), amatőr (hu)
• Italian: dilettante (it) m or f
• Macedonian: дилета́нт m (diletánt), дилета́нтка f (diletántka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dilettant (no) m

• Polish: amator (pl) m, amatorka (pl) f, dyletant (pl) m, dyletantka (pl) f
• Portuguese: diletante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: diletant (ro) m, amator (ro) m
• Russian: дилета́нт (ru) m (diletánt), дилета́нтка (ru) f (diletántka), люби́тель (ru) m (ljubítelʹ), люби́тельница (ru) f (ljubítelʹnica), непрофессионал (ru) m (neprofessional), профа́н (ru) m (profán), (informal) ча́йник (ru) m (čájnik), (informal) ла́поть (ru) m (lápotʹ), (colloquial, somewhat) лох (ru) m (lox)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дилѐтант m, дилѐтантица f, љу̀битељ m, љубитѐљица f

  Latin: dilètant (sh) m, dilètantica (sh) f, ljùbitelj (sh) m, ljubitèljica (sh) f

• Slovak: diletant m, diletantka f
• Slovene: ljubitelj (sl) m, ljubiteljica f
• Spanish: diletante (es) m or f, dilettante m or f
• Swedish: dilettant (sv) c, klåpare (sv)
• Ukrainian: дилета́нт (uk) m (dyletánt), дилета́нтка f (dyletántka)

person with a general but superficial interest

• Catalan: diletant, aficionat (ca) m, aficionada (ca) f
• Dutch: liefhebber (nl) m, amateur (nl) m
• Finnish: harrastelija (fi), diletantti (fi)
• Georgian: დილეტანტი (dileṭanṭi)
• German: Dilettant (de) m, Dilettantin (de) f, Nichtfachmann m
• Hindi: अनुरागी (hi) m (anurāgī), शौक़ीन m (śauqīn)
• Hungarian: dilettáns (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dilettant (no) m

• Polish: amator (pl) m, amatorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: diletante (pt) m or f
• Russian: дилета́нт (ru) m (diletánt), дилета́нтка (ru) f (diletántka)
• Spanish: diletante (es) m or f, dilettante m or f
• Swedish: dilettant (sv) c, amatör (sv) c
• Ukrainian: дилета́нт (uk) m (dyletánt), дилета́нтка f (dyletántka)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} kunstliefhebber (nl) m, (e) ^{(please verify)} dilettant (nl)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} diletanto
• German: ^{(please verify)} Kunstliebhaber (de) m
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} dilettante
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dilettante (it) m or f
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} diletante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} diletant (ro) m
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} дилетант m (diletant)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} dilettant (sv) c, amatörmålare c, amatör (sv) c

See also

• amateur

Adjective

dilettante (comparative more dilettante, superlative most dilettante)

1. Pertaining to or like a dilettante.

Translations

pertaining to or like a dilettante

• Bulgarian: дилетантски (diletantski), любителски (ljubitelski)
• Catalan: diletant, aficionat (ca) m, aficionada (ca) f
• Dutch: dilettantisch (nl)
• Esperanto: diletanta
• Finnish: harrastelijamainen (fi)
• French: dilettante (fr) m or f, dilettantesque (fr) m or f
• Georgian: დილეტანტური (dileṭanṭuri)
• German: dilettantisch (de)
• Hindi: कला-प्रेमी m (kalā-premī), अध्‍यवसायी कलाकार m (adh‍yavsāyī kalākār), अपूर्ण ज्ञाता m (apūrṇ jñātā)
• Polish: amatorski (pl)
• Russian: дилета́нтский (ru) (diletántskij), люби́тельский (ru) (ljubítelʹskij), непрофессиональный (ru) (neprofessionalʹnyj)
• Spanish: diletante (es), dilettante
• Swedish: amatörmässig (sv) c

Further reading

• dilettante on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “dilettante”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “dilettante”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• H[enry] W[atson] Fowler (1926), “dilettante”, in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press; London: Humphrey [Sumner] Milford, →OCLC, page 115: “Pl[ural] -ti (pron[ounced] -tē).”

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian dilettante.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.lɛ.tɑ̃t/ ~ /di.le.tɑ̃t/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

dilettante m or f by sense (plural dilettantes)

1. dilettante

Further reading

• “dilettante”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Interlingua

Noun

dilettante (plural dilettantes)

1. dilettante

Italian

Etymology

From dilettare (“to delight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.letˈtan.te/
• Rhymes: -ante
• Hyphenation: di‧let‧tàn‧te

Noun

dilettante m or f by sense (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur
2. dilettante

Descendants

• → English: dilettante
• → German: Dilettant

Adjective

dilettante m or f by sense (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur

Related terms

• dilettevole

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian dilettante.

Noun

dilettante m or f by sense (plural dilettanti)

1. (literary) alternative form of diletante

Adjective

dilettante m or f (masculine and feminine plural dilettanti)

1. (literary) alternative form of diletante

Further reading

• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “dilettante”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA