précieux

Précieux is a French adjective meaning valuable, dear, or of high quality. It is used for objects, materials, or persons valued for rarity, beauty, or importance, as in précieux bijou or une idée précieuse. In older usage, précieux could function as a noun to denote a cherished person or thing, though this usage is largely historical.

Etymology traces précieux to the Latin pretiosus, meaning costly or precious, passing into Old French as precieus and later précieux. The sense of value, rarity, and delicacy inherent in the term informed both everyday language and literary expressions.

In literary and cultural history, the term précieuses or préciosité designates a 17th‑century French literary and social phenomenon centered in Parisian salons. Beginning in the 1620s and expanding through the 1640s, it involved refined conversation, wit, and an elaborate, often deliberately delicate style of language and sentiment. The marquise de Rambouillet, Catherine de Vivonne, hosted influential gatherings, and writers such as Madeleine de Scudéry helped shape the movement. The précieuses promoted politeness, sensibilité, and literary games that prized refined diction, ornamental metaphors, and courtly affection. The movement also faced criticism from contemporaries and later satirists.

Molière’s comedy Les Précieuses ridicules (1659) famously mocked the pretensions and linguistic habits associated with préciosité, contributing to a pejorative stereotype even as the movement influenced later classic French prose and theatre. By the latter half of the 17th century, the emphasis on refined language faded as French literature moved toward the classic style, but the history of préciosité remains recognized as a significant phase in the evolution of French language and literary culture.