Amanqué (femininemanquée, from the French for "missed") is a person who has failed to live up to a specific expectation or ambition. It is usually used in combination with a profession: for example, a careercivil servant with political prowess who nonetheless never attained political office might be described as a "politician manqué". It can also be used relative to a specific role model; a second-ratemethod actor might be referred to as a "Marlon Brando manqué".[1]
The term derives from thepast participle of the French verbmanquer (to miss, to fail, to lack). In English, it is usedpostpositively, that is, following the noun it modifies in the manner of most adjectives in French.
The British political writer and formerM.P.David Marquand described the mid-20th centuryLabour politicianAneurin Bevan as a "statesman manqué",[2] while the magazinePrivate Eye referred to journalistJanet Street-Porter as an "architect manquée".[3]
TheCollins Dictionary gave the example of a manager as an "actormanqué",[4] while theOxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases cited theTimes magazine in 1996 as describing a "subway genius" as "a writer manqué since many of his chosen citations deal with creating literature".[5] Arising from the inscription onPlato's door inAncient Greece, "let no one devoid ofgeometry enter here",[6] the 17th-century philosopherThomas Hobbes has been described as typifying a "mathematicianmanqué".
InVladimir Nabokov'sLolita, the narrator, Humbert Humbert, reminisces, "At first, I planned to take a degree in psychiatry as manymanqué talents do; but I was even moremanqué than that . . . and I switched to English literature."[7]
In Frenchmanqué is sometimes applied to someone who has failed to gain professional status - such asun médecin manqué (a failed doctor)[8] - whereas, in English, it need not have that pejorative implication. In the game ofroulette the set of numbers from 1 to 18 is described asmanque (no accent), meaning that the ball has "failed" to land in one of the higher (19–36) slots.
Theslangmanky, meaning "inferior" or "dirty", is thought to be linked in some way tomanqué, possibly from theScots wordmank[9] (maimed or defective)[10] but maybe viaPolari.[11] The ancestor of all these words is theLatinmancus (maimed or crippled; and, by transference, imperfect or incomplete[12]).
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The dictionary definition ofmanqué at Wiktionary