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soigné (swahn-YAY, swa-NYAY) - adj., fashionable and elegant, well-groomed; elegantly maintained or designed.
The feminine form soignée is sometimes used for women, but that distinction is less common these days than fiancée. Taken from French in the mid-19th century, where it had the same meanings plus also a sense of meticulous when applied to some sort of work, and is the past participle of soigner, to take care of, from soin, care, which goes back to Old French form soing, then Frankish *sunnija, worry/care, then Proto-Germanic *sunjō/*sunþijō, truth/care/responsibility, and back to PIE *h₁sónts, being/true.
---L.
The feminine form soignée is sometimes used for women, but that distinction is less common these days than fiancée. Taken from French in the mid-19th century, where it had the same meanings plus also a sense of meticulous when applied to some sort of work, and is the past participle of soigner, to take care of, from soin, care, which goes back to Old French form soing, then Frankish *sunnija, worry/care, then Proto-Germanic *sunjō/*sunþijō, truth/care/responsibility, and back to PIE *h₁sónts, being/true.
---L.
