petit maître
- noun
- /pəˈti ˈmɛtrə/
- Archaic
:
petit maître
- Everyone admired the petit maître for his elegance and impeccable hospitality.
Examples
-
The gallery owner's reputation as a petit maître attracted artists and critics alike.
-
Jean is a true petit maître of style.
-
She hoped to become a petit maître of the Parisian social scene.
-
The gallery featured several petits maîtres this season.
-
Everyone admired the petit maître for his elegance and impeccable hospitality.
-
The gallery owner's reputation as a petit maître attracted artists and critics alike.
-
She hoped to become a petit maître of the Parisian social scene.
Synonyms
1
9.3
A man who cares a lot about his clothes and how he looks
How Stylish
- Archaic
22
8.2
- Archaic
- Informal
9
4.9
85
2.6
29
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a borrowed French phrase whose idiomatic sense (a stylish or affected ‘master’/dandy) is not straightforwardly derivable from the literal constituents. Knowing 'petit' (small/borrowed modifier) and 'maître' (master or senior waiter) does not reliably lead a B1 learner to the specific cultural/figurative meaning in English, so the expression functions as a language-specific idiom.
Etymology
Petit maître comes from French: petit means 'little' and maître means 'master'. In old Paris the term described young men proud of their style and polite manners who liked to host guests, so today petit maître helps us think of a charming, skilled host known for polite manners and stylish taste.