gracile

Meaning

1. Lean, slender, thin.
2. Of an animal or skeletal element: having a slender frame.
3. Graceful or gracefully slender.

Synonyms

slender

svelte

willowy

thin

slim

petite

delicate

Hyphenated as

grac‧ile

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɹæsaɪl/

Etymology

Cognate with French: gracile

Cognate with Italian: gracile

Cognate with Portuguese: grácil

Cognate with Spanish: grácil

In summary

Borrowed from Middle French gracil, gracile (“slender, thin”) (modern French gracile (“gracile”)), or directly from its etymon Latin gracilis (“slender, slim, thin; lean, meagre, scanty; simple, unadorned”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerḱ- (“to become thin; to wane”). The sense “graceful or gracefully slender” was apparently influenced by the non-cognate word grace. The English word is cognate with Italian gracile (“delicate, frail; slender, thin”), Portuguese grácil, Spanish grácil (“graceful; delicate; slender”).