je ne sais quoi

French.

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

Origin:
literally, I don't know what

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

je ne sais quoi (ʒənsekwa)

—n
	an indefinable quality, esp of personality

[literally: I don't know what]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

Je ne sais quoi is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

je ne sais quoi

1656, "an inexpressible something," from Fr., lit. "I do not know what."

"[T]hey are troubled with the je-ne-scay-quoy, that faign themselves sick out of niceness but know not where their own grief lies, or what ayls them." [Thomas Blount, "Glossographia," 1656]

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

je ne sais quoi [(zhuh nuh say kwah)]

That little something; a quality that eludes description: “The Mona Lisa's smile has a certain je ne sais quoi.” From French, meaning “I don't know what.”

Matching Quote

"It takes that je ne sais quoi which we call sophistication for a woman to be magnificent in a drawing-room when her faculties have departed but she herself has not yet gone home."

-James Thurber

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