éminence grise
/ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.20 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A secret or unofficial decision-maker.
Example Sentences
- "But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads."
- "[Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power."
- "The watchmaker himself, a white-haired éminence grise, was bent over his work, a jeweler’s loupe in his eye, when I walked in."
Etymology
Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/
- British English: /ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/