esthètes

Esthètes is the plural of esthète, a term used to describe a person with a refined sensitivity to beauty, especially in the arts. The word derives from French esthète, from Greek aisthētēs meaning a perceiver or one who perceives.

In English, esthete and esthetes became common in the 19th century within the aesthetics movement, sometimes called aestheticism, which valued art for its own sake rather than for moral or utilitarian purposes. The term can be used neutrally to refer to someone devoted to beauty, or pejoratively to suggest self-indulgence or affectation.

Notable figures associated with aestheticism and its esthete image include Oscar Wilde and Walter Pater; in France, writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé are linked to similar sensibilities through the 19th century. However, esthètes in modern usage may refer more broadly to anyone with a pronounced interest in art, design, and beauty.

In contemporary French, esthètes retains the neutral sense of “connoisseurs of beauty” and can carry cultural or elitist nuance depending on context.

See also aesthetics, aestheticism.