Dictionary

risqué en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (US) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /ɹiː-/ (Received-Pronunciation) following the French pronunciation
• /ɹɪ-/ (General-American)
• /ɹəˈskeɪ/ (General-American)
• /ɹɪsˈkeɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɹɪskeɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from French risqué (“risky”), an adjective use of the past participle of risquer (“to put at risk; to risk”), from risque (“risk”, noun) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). Risque is derived from Old Italian risco (“risk”) (modern Italian rischio), possibly a deverbal from resecare or from Vulgar Latin *resecum, both from Latin resecō (“to cut loose or off, etc.”), from re- (intensifying prefix) + secō (“to cut; to cut off”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut; to cut off, sever”)).

Meanings

1. Slightly sexually suggestive; bordering on indelicate.
   • The housewives of Siena could not believe that such a woman could be very important in the world; but beyond the limits of her native town, in Florence, in Rome, Catherine was already famous for her gifts of prophecy. A woman of strong will, rough and risquée of speech, she declared herself appointed of God to achieve the great purpose of her time—the return of the Holy See to Rome. 1927, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, “Two Women Scold a Pope”, in Arthur Livingston, transl., The Pope of the Sea: An Historical Medley, New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, […], →OCLC, part 1 (The City of the Three Keys), page 119:
   • There was something about Klea that made her different from any other woman Khem and Tiye had met at the Temple. Younger than Taret or Ani, she was more bold and risquée. They sensed that beneath her lighthearted facade was a strong-willed, self-confident initiate who could not be fooled or intimidated. 2004, Page Bryant, “A Time for Amulet Making”, in The Second Coming of the Star Gods: A Visionary Novel, Charlottesville, Va.: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, →ISBN:
   • Therefore he placed along with this couple who had become one, Margaret, the gamesome lady's-maid, who is risquée in her talk with her mistress, and has Borachio as a lover—so anxious is [William] Shakespeare for variety of character and of life. 1913, Stopford A[ugustus] Brooke, “Much Ado About Nothing”, in Ten More Plays of Shakespeare, London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 8:
   • 'Good fashion is never risqué,' she says. 'Only a little daring.' 2023, Kate J. Armstrong, “Jewel, Star, and Sea”, in Nightbirds, Crows Nest, Sydney, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, →ISBN:
   • [S]he was angry with herself; and, for that, sang the more loudly the most wicked and risqué of her slang songs, that gave the morals of a Messalina in the language of a fish-wife, and yet had an inalienable, mischievous, contagious, dauntless French grace in it withal. 1867, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Cigarette en Bienfaitrice”, in Under Two Flags: A Story of the Household and the Desert. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 121:
   • But despite being the first episode of The Simpsons to feature Marge [Simpson]'s naked butt, there's nothing particularly risque about any of the nudity—if anything, the pitchfork-wielding farmer's threat of "ass-forking" feels the most over the line. 2016 January 24, Les Chappell, “An Uneven Season of The Simpsons Streaks to an Excellent Conclusion: ‘Natural Born Kissers’ (season nine, episode 25, originally aired 05/17/1998)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 12 Oct 2021:
   • And when the British respond to a risqué joke with ‘ooh la la’ there’s a sauciness implied that just isn’t there in the original French words, risqué meaning ‘risked’ (a verb, not an adjective) and oh là là a great many things from ‘wow’ to ‘oh dear’, none of them very sexy. 2016 October 13, Matthew Anderson, “The foreign words that seem like English – but aren’t”, in BBC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2020:
   • Never blame society,—it buys books! Now if you could write a smart love-story, slightly risqué,—even a little more than risqué for that matter; that is the sort of thing that suits the present age. 1895, Marie Corelli, chapter I, in The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 5:
   • Fashion magazines and advertising photographers usually cast her [Candy Jones] in tweeds, but she prefers long slinky dresses slit to the knee and black lace stockings. "I figure I might as well be gay and risquée while I can," she says, with a little tremor in her boyish voice. "I'll be old soon." 1943 April 10, Dorothy Kilgallen, “The Magic Moniker”, in Collier’s, volume 111, number 15, Springfield, Oh.: The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51, column 1:

Forms

Antonyms

unrisqué

Coordinates

ribald

Deriveds

risquéness

Synonyms

daring · cheeky · racy · raunchy · saucy · naughty · rorty · suggestive · near the knuckle

Translations (25)

fi rietas (slightly sexually suggestive) · nb ekvivokk (slightly sexually suggestive) · de schlüpfrig (slightly sexually suggestive) · da fræk (slightly sexually suggestive) · es atrevido (slightly sexually suggestive) · cs odvážný (slightly sexually suggestive) · it osé (slightly sexually suggestive) · it spinto (slightly sexually suggestive) · de gewagt (slightly sexually suggestive) · fi rivo (slightly sexually suggestive) · fr osé (slightly sexually suggestive) · pl nieprzyzwoity (slightly sexually suggestive) · fr risqué (slightly sexually suggestive) · pt malicioso (slightly sexually suggestive) · ja きわどい (slightly sexually suggestive) · es subido de tono (slightly sexually suggestive) · sv ekivok (slightly sexually suggestive) · pl zbereźny (slightly sexually suggestive) · cs choulostivý (slightly sexually suggestive) · fi säädytön (slightly sexually suggestive) · nb dristig (slightly sexually suggestive) · sv vågad (slightly sexually suggestive) · it scabroso (slightly sexually suggestive) · nb vovet (slightly sexually suggestive) · cs pikantní (slightly sexually suggestive)