caprice

Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio (“fright, sudden start”): capo (“head”), from Latin caput + riccio (“curly”), from Latin ericius (“hedgehog”), or from Italian capro (“goat”)

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɹis/

caprice (plural caprices)

1. An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated notion, action, or change of mind.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

2. An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     After that we cast off all allegiance to immediate, tangible, and time-touched things, and entered a fantastic world of hushed unreality in which the narrow, ribbon-like road rose and fell and curved with an almost sentient and purposeful caprice amidst the tenantless green peaks and half-deserted valleys

3. A disposition to be impulsive.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

4. (music) A capriccio.

• capricious

From Italian capriccio.

• IPA^(key): /ka.pʁis/

• Audio

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caprice m (plural caprices)

1. whim; wish
   • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné

     Pas malade ! en effet, je suis jeune, sain et fort. Le sang coule librement dans mes veines ; tous mes membres obéissent à tous mes caprices

     Not ill! Indeed, I am young, healthy and strong. Blood flows freely in my veins; all my parts obey my every wish.

2. tantrum

• capricieux

• “caprice” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).