Weekly Word: Recherche
The adjective recherche means “rare”, “exotic”, “of studied refinement or elegance”, or “pretentious”. As you may have guessed, this word comes from French. It’s pronounced “ruh-sher-shay” (listen to the pronunciation at Merriam-Webster).
Recherche is related to the less extravagant word research via the Old French word recercher, meaning “to seek out”. So something that’s recherche has been “sought out with care”.
The Online Etymology Dictionary mentions that the word was used “to denote obscure excellence”, often describing 19th century “food, styles, etc.” I imagine this word would be a favorite among art film critics — or at least it’d be my favorite word to describe them! 
Nah, just some of them.
March 22nd, 2008
Hi, Liz. What a difficult word to pronounce! But I loved learning a new word. Plus, I like any word that speaks of refinement or elegance.
I discovered your blog toward the end of last year and got such a kick out of the premise. I suppose I’m a bit of a polymath, myself. As a matter of fact, I just teased my husband because he pronounced it as “Puh-LEE-myth.” I pronounced it “Paw-lee-math” and he corrected me. I headed to one of my fave sites, Merriam-Webster and sure enough, I was right.
Funny how he immediately becomes engaged with something else after I prove I’m correct about something…
March 22nd, 2008
Thanks for stopping by! Merriam-Webster proves once and for all that women are always right, haha.