25 June 2017

je ne sais quoi

[zhuh nuh se kwa]

noun, French.

1. an indefinable, elusive quality, especially a pleasing one:
She has a certain je ne sais quoi that charms everybody.

Origin of je ne sais quoi

literally, I don’t know what

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for je ne sais quoi

Contemporary Examples

She never finishes her soup and she wears a toweling robe with a certain je ne sais quoi.
Polanski’s Brilliant Comeback
Simon Schama
February 17, 2010

Just in time for Paris Fashion Week, a new book, Paris Street Style, offers tips on how to acheive that certain je ne sais quoi.
A New Guide to Parisian Style
Rebecca Benhamou
March 2, 2013

Historical Examples

I don’t know what that means, but I love that sort of—of—of— je ne sais quoi, in short!
Trilby
George Du Maurier

Tout le reste a je ne sais quoi de chimrique et souvent de trs-funeste.
The Life of Albert Gallatin
Henry Adams

There is something about you, Tweeny, there is a je ne sais quoi about you.
The Admirable Crichton
J. M. Barrie

A raven hopping about the casks gives a je ne sais quoi, a cachet, to the premises.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, March 3rd, 1920
Various

And not one has the beginnings of the polished charm of manner, the fire of glance, the je ne sais quoi of Mrs. Hunt Maclean.
The Californians
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

But there was a je ne sais quoi in their behaviour to-day, which begins to alarm my suspicion.
The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Complete
Tobias Smollett

But there was a je ne sais quoi in the whole cut of your jib as familiar to me as rolls and coffee.
Grey Roses
Henry Harland

“A ‘ je ne sais quoi young man,'” quotes the younger Miss Beresford, with a sneer.
Rossmoyne
Unknown

Anagram

Ouija Sense Qi

Today’s quote

In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

– George Orwell

On this day

25 June 1903 – birth of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Died 21 January 1950.

25 June 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is first published.

25 June 1978 – the Rainbow Flag, symbol of gay pride, is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.