subtil

• subtill

subtil (comparative more subtil, superlative most subtil)

1. Obsolete form of subtle (“sly, artful, cunning”).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:1:

     Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Wisdom of Solomon 7:22–23:

     For wisedome which is the worker of all things, taught mee: for in her is an vnderstanding spirit holy, one onely, manifold, subtile, liuely, cleare, vndefiled, plaine, not subiect to hurt, louing the thing that is good, quicke, which cānot be letted, ready to do good: Kinde to man, stedfast, sure, free from care, hauing all power, ouerseeing all things, and going through all vnderstanding, pure, and most subtile spirits.

• Noah Webster (1828) “subtil”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II (J–Z), New York, N.Y.: […] S. Converse; printed by Hezekiah Howe […], →OCLC.

• builts, bultis

Borrowed from Latin subtīlis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [supˈtil]

subtil m or f (masculine and feminine plural subtils)

1. subtle

• subtilesa
• subtilment

• “subtil” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “subtil”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “subtil”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

From Latin subtīlis (“fine, thin”), from sub + tēla (“a web”).

• IPA^(key): /subtiːl/, [sub̥ˈtˢiːˀl]

subtil

1. subtle

• “subtil” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle French subtil, from Old French subtil (13th c.), byform of sotil (12th c.), itself inherited from Latin subtīlis. Old French subtil may still represent the inherited form if it stands for the pronunciation /su.til/. The modern /y/ is of semi-learned origin. The b probably came to be pronounced even later; Middle French variant spellings like sutil, suttil suggest that it was still mostly silent.

• IPA^(key): /syp.til/

• Audio:

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subtil (feminine subtile, masculine plural subtils, feminine plural subtiles)

1. subtle

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

From Middle High German subtīl (13th c.), from Latin subtīlis. It was fairly well integrated in Middle High German. Accordingly a diphthongised form subteil is attested (albeit rarely) and the word is also current in some dialects. Since the 18th century it has become less frequent and more restricted to learned parlance.

• IPA^(key): /zʊpˈtiːl/

• Audio (Berlin):

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

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subtil (strong nominative masculine singular subtiler, comparative subtiler, superlative am subtilsten)

1. subtle

   Synonyms: fein, feinfühlig, feinsinnig, unterschwellig

• Subtilität

• “subtil” in Duden online
• “subtil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

subtil

1. alternative form of sotil

From Latin subtilis.

subtil (masculine and feminine subtil, neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)

1. subtle

• “subtil” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “subtil” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Latin subtilis.

subtil (neuter subtilt, definite singular and plural subtile)

1. subtle

• “subtil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -il
• Hyphenation: sub‧til

subtil m or f (plural subtis)

1. European Portuguese standard form of sutil

Borrowed from French subtil and Latin subtīlis. Doublet of subțire.

• IPA^(key): /subˈtil/

subtil m or n (feminine singular subtilă, masculine plural subtili, feminine and neuter plural subtile)

1. subtle

subtil (comparative subtilare, superlative subtilast)

1. subtle

• subtilitet (“subtlety”)

• subtil in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• subtil in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• subtil in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)