Russian is a great, multifaceted and very complex language. According to the recognition of many foreigners comprehending different dialects and dialects, it is he who is one of the most difficult to study, and he is inferior only to Chinese and Japanese. And, like in many other speech cultures, our language has a huge number of words with an interesting etymology or history of origin. The word "finicky" is just one of those.
The origin of the word finicky
It is believed that all words that have in their composition the letter combination "ery" or "eryo" (for example, birch, silver, village), are originally Russian in origin. This rule is also relevant in the case of the word "finicky."
The history of the Russian language has many examples when the meaning of a word has changed over time . This also applies to etymology. "Picky", disassembled into morphemes, consists of the prefix "at", the root is "forward", the ending and the suffix. It is the prefix and the root of this word that will be the key not only to its origin, but also to the definition.
Thus, the word "finicky" comes from the word-archaism "middle" by adding to the adjective "finicky" prefix "at". What does "forward" mean?
In Old Russian, this word denoted wounds, various sores (abscesses, boils, abscesses, etc.) or simply painful sensations. And the adjective “picky” was characterized by a sick, weak, or simply too pampered person. Accordingly, based on the origin of the word "finicky", we can say that it means "very sensitive to pain" person.
It should be noted that, since the word “edible” is obsolete and completely out of use, the following order will be considered as the proper analysis of the word in composition: the root is “picky”, the suffix “liv” and the ending “o”.
By the way, the term “forward”, to which the word “finicky” owes its origin, has the same etymological basis as the word “harm”. In the explanatory dictionary of V.I. Dahl, both words are given similar definitions:
The term "fret" has two meanings, the first of which is to spoil things, to cry (ruin). And the second is to do deliberate evil, to spoil, to sweep (waste, hurt) a sore spot.
And the word "harm" is interpreted as causing harm, damage to health or personal insult, loss of property.
The use of the obsolete word "forward" today can only be found in literature and, possibly, dialects. So, the character of Turgenev’s "Noble Nest" Ivan Petrovich whimpered and complained when he jumped up in front.
Meaning of the word
Today, this term is used in a completely different meaning than the origin of the word "finicky." So, now this word is used in relation to a person who makes too high demands in relation to something, or which is difficult enough to please. In addition, it is possible to use this term when describing animals and plants that are difficult to care for.
Correct spelling and pronunciation
Difficulties in writing this word may appear due to two unverifiable unstressed vowels "and" and "e". Knowing the origin of the word "finicky", difficulties in writing should not arise, otherwise, if in doubt, look in the dictionary.
Another difficulty may be spelling a suffix. To do this, it is enough to know that the suffix "liv" is written only with the letter "and" (similar to the words happy, chatty, etc.).
So, the correct spelling of the word is finicky.
The correct pronunciation of this word is with emphasis on the third, penultimate syllable: faithful.
Synonyms and Antonyms
Similar in meaning to the word "finicky" in the modern sense are such words as demanding, capricious, picky, choosy, strict, unfriendly, whimsical.
Antonyms for this outdated word are "unpretentious", "undemanding".
Examples of using
Although the meaning attached to the origin of the word "finicky" is very different from the present, this term is widely used in both oral and written speech. In addition, this word applies not only to people, but also to plants or animals.
Fastidious, as a quality of personality: "Our store employees will find an approach to even the most fastidious customers!". In this case, it speaks of demanding people who are difficult to please.
To describe plants that are not easy to take care of: "Some picky flowers need to change the microclimate several times a year."
To describe the nature of animals: "To feed some cats is a real meal, they are so finicky."
Another example is the famous song of Vladimir Vysotsky: "But something horses I caught fastidious."
In addition, a gaze can be a gaze ("Her excellency took over all the sights of the quintessential gaze of a hostess") or a gaze ("In my rather picky gaze, the quality of the goods did not at all correspond to the price").
And this word can also be used to describe the taste: "His fastidious taste for food manifested itself in early childhood."
Also, the word "finicky" can be used in the meaning of "meticulous", "corrosive": "Only the most finicky reader will find these small inconsistencies."