panache

See also: panaché

English

WOTD – 16 February 2008

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French panache, from Middle French pennache (“plume of feathers”), from Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum. Doublet of pinnacle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /pəˈnæʃ/, /pəˈnɑːʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ

Noun

panache (countable and uncountable, plural panaches)

1. (countable) An ornamental plume on a helmet.

   Synonyms: hackle, plume, plumage

   • 1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 4, in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard:

     I had taken the panache from my shako so that it might escape notice, but even with my fine overcoat I feared that sooner or later my uniform would betray me.

2. (uncountable, figurative) Flamboyance, energetic style or action.

   Synonyms: dash, flamboyance, swagger, verve

   • 1894, Kate Chopin, “At the 'Cadian Ball”, in Bayou Folk:

     One old gentleman, who was in the habit of reading a Paris newspaper and knew things, chuckled gleefully to everybody that Alcée’s conduct was altogether chic, mais chic. That he had more panache than Boulanger. Well, perhaps he had.

   • 1988 December 11, Thomas M. Disch, “Lost in Cyberspace”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Cyberpunk caters to the wish-fulfillment requirements of male teen-agers, but this is a job that can be done with varying degrees of panache, and there is currently no more accomplished caterer than William Gibson.

   • 2025 April 24, Ned Temko, “Trump’s ‘quick fix’ approach to diplomacy slow to yield results”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     It was a tantalizing promise, delivered with Donald Trump’s trademark panache: As dealmaker in chief, he would quickly end world conflicts that had defied his predecessors and their nattily dressed legions of career diplomats.

   • 2025 May 24, Raphael Abraham, “In Godard we trust”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 16:

     It takes serious chutzpah for an American to bring a film abour the French New Wave to Cannes but [Richard] Linklater pulls it off with considerable comic panache and affection.

Translations

ornamental helmet plume

Bulgarian: плюмаж m (pljumaž) Catalan: plomall (ca) m Dutch: vederbos (nl), panache (nl) Finnish: sulkatöyhtö, sulkakoriste French: panache (fr) m German: Federbusch (de) m Icelandic: fjaðraskúfur m Macedonian: перјаница f (perjanica) Polish: pióropusz (pl) m Portuguese: penacho (pt) Romanian: panaș (ro) n Russian: плюма́ж (ru) m (pljumáž), султа́н (ru) m (sultán) Serbo-Croatian: perjanica (sh) Spanish: penacho (es) m Swedish: panasch (sv) c

flamboyant style or action

Bulgarian: показност f (pokaznost) Dutch: zwier (nl), panache (nl) Esperanto: brilo Finnish: vauhdikkuus (fi), lennokkuus (fi), into (fi) French: panache (fr) m German: Schwung (de) m, Elan (de) m Polish: polot (pl) m, rozmach (pl) m Portuguese: brilho (pt) Russian: щегольство́ (ru) n (ščegolʹstvó), фатовство́ (ru) n (fatovstvó), рисо́вка (ru) f (risóvka), разма́х (ru) m (razmáx) (swing) Serbo-Croatian: verv, kićenost, kitnjastost Spanish: gracia (es) f, garbo (es) m

Further reading

• panache on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French pennache (“plume of feathers”), borrowed from Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum. Doublet of pinacle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.naʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

panache m (plural panaches)

1. (also figurative) panache
2. (Canada) the bulk of antlers of deer and moose
3. column or plume of smoke (cloud of smoke)

Synonyms

• (flamboyant style): flamboyance, verve, brio, bravoure

Derived terms

• empanacher
• panachage
• panaché
• panache éruptif
• panache volcanique
• panacher

Descendants

• → English: panache
• → Italian: panache
• → Romanian: panaș

Further reading

• “panache”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• panache on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr

Anagrams

• épancha

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French panache, itself from Italian pennacchio.

Noun

panache m (invariable)

1. (fashion) panache (ornamental plumage)

   Synonym: pennacchio

Further reading

• panache in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana