Meaning
An elusive, hard-to-describe quality that makes someone or something distinctive and appealing, almost always in a positive way. It is a slightly genteel, often wry expression, typically preceded by 'a certain'. In English it functions as a noun for that charm, whereas in French it is an ordinary clause meaning 'I don't know what'. Genteel and often self-mocking or ironic; conventionally preceded by 'a certain'. Regional use: General English (borrowed from French).
Origin
The phrase is French for 'I don't know what', and 17th-century French writers used it for the indefinable element that charms or moves beyond analysis. English borrowed it whole during the great wave of French borrowing after the Restoration: the Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence dates from 1656, in the writing of Thomas Blount, whose Glossographia - an early dictionary of 'hard words' - glossed it for English readers. Unlike the 19th- and 20th-century German loanwords that share its appeal, it has been in continuous English use for over three and a half centuries, nearly always inside the set frame 'a certain je ne sais quoi'.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a certain je ne sais quoi
- je ne se quoi
Usage Examples
- The bistro has no obvious advantages, but the room has a je ne sais quoi that keeps regulars coming back.
- Critics praised the young singer's je ne sais quoi rather than naming what actually set her apart.
- He assumed the suit's je ne sais quoi came from the cut; his tailor knew it came from the price.