finikin

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch fijnkens (“exactly; precisely”), from fijn (“fine”).

Adjective

finikin (comparative more finikin, superlative most finikin)

1. (dated) Excessively dainty or fastidious.
   • c. 1745, George Washington, edited by Moncure D. Conway, George Washington's Rules of Civility‎^[1], published 1890:

     Have a great regard for the cleanliness of your hands, but do not be finikin about it.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     The bearded creatures are quite as eager for praise, quite as finikin over their toilettes, quite as proud of their personal advantages, quite as conscious of their powers of fascination, as any coquette in the world.

   • 1913, Henry W. Nevinson, Essays in Rebellion‎^[2]:

     Artifice and imitation reveal the finikin or uncertain soul as surely as deliberate bareness reveals a conscious austerity.

Noun

finikin (plural finikins)

1. Alternative form of finnikin