Hi there. This is Harry, and welcome back to advanced English lessons with Harry,
where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. If
you're trying to prepare for those proficiency exams or indeed, if you're trying to get ready
for a job interview and you need to speak better English, well, you've found the right place.
We're here to help you.
Okay. So as I said, this is an advanced English lesson. And in this particular lesson,
we're looking at adjectives and we're looking at 20, 20 adjectives to describe physical appearance.
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Now, when we're describing people's physical appearance,
we usually in general terms use words like short,
tall, of average height, fat, skinny. There's a sort of general words we use,
and that's fine for that particular purpose. But if you want, something a
little bit more adventurous or if you want to describe people you know, or people you see,
then you might want to have a look at these more advanced adjectives.
So when we want to be a little bit more particular
in our description and you'll find these sort of words very,
very often in the written format so you can use them quite easily in your conversational English.
Now, as I go through the list of these particular adjectives,
I'll let you know if one or two of them you have to be careful
Who you use them with because some people could take offence with some of the words.
And then the modern world of being PC or non-PC PC. That means to be politically correct or
non politically correct where people might be offended or take offence at some of the words.
You just have to be a little bit more careful. So I'll give you a warning in relation to them.
Yes, you still have to know these words because they are used quite freely and quite openly.
Okay, So let's start with people who are lighter in size. And again,
just be careful here, because what we're talking about in relation to
people's size or that what we call the frame, the actual body of the person.
So when we talk about people who are lighter,
we can talk about lanky. Lanky, you know, a lanky person is somebody
who's very tall but very skinny. And it usually describes somebody who perhaps
shot up in there when they were 14, 15 or 16 in their mid or early teens. And,
you know, they didn't put on a lot of weight.
And we all know somebody we went to school with who we could describe as lanky. In fact, we used
to call them a beanpole. Well, yeah, somebody tall and skinny like a beanpole, all lanky.
Another word for skinny is spindly and spindly. You'll see the
written format of this on the screen. So the pronunciation spindly and often we use
it in relation to somebodies legs. They had spindly legs,
a bit like a spider, long and skinny and all over the place. Spindly legs.
Feeble, feeble is a word we use to describe somebody who's quite weak. Yeah,
a feeble body or a feeble mind sometimes are described as.
But if we're talking about specifically somebody's body, feeble as somebody who's
undernourished
or old with not many muscles, so they haven't kept themselves fit. So as they have got older,
their body has deteriorated. And they are not so strong. And
we might say the good wind would blow them away. Yes. So somebody's feeble.
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Delicate is a little bit different because delicate doesn't really have anything to
do with age. It has everything to do with the shape and the frame and the body mass that you
have. So some of these delicate, it just means they're not very strong. Okay. Now, it can be
permanent in the sense that somebody just didn't develop or they didn't take care of themselves.
And they have a delicate body and they're always sick or they're always breaking
something. So they're quite delicate. But you could always have a temporary
when somebody wakes up when they've been enjoying the Christmas party, for example,
the night before. When they wake up the next morning, they might describe themselves as,
I'm a little bit delicate today, so it won't last more than a few hours or a day.
But delicate and a permanent situation means that the body isn't so strong.
Frail, now frail is very definitely has to do with age. And generally as people get older,
their body becomes more and more frail. They lose body mass. They
lose muscle definition. Their bones may appear to be sticking out. They may
have a calcium deficiency or something like that. And yet they are frail. And if they fall over,
particularly women of a certain age and they're likely to break a hip or
break a leg or an arm or some particular bone so they can be described as frail,
the frail old lady or my granny is very frail these days.
You have to be very careful when you help her up that you don't
actually bruise her arm because she's quite frail.
Okay. So if I could just say to you, if you do like this particular lesson and please like the
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Slights is again a word referring to a light framed person. Very slight
means skinny or underweight and somebody who's not necessarily based on their age,
but they've got a slight frame or a slight build. So there's not a lot of
muscle definition. They could obviously be healthy, but just they don't eat a lot or
they're one of those people who they even if they do eat a lot, they don't put on weight.
So that frame or that body is slight.
Gaunt to the next word and gaunt relates to physical appearance, particularly around the
face. So if somebody has been sick for a period of time and spent time in hospital,
perhaps they haven't eaten because they've had a really bad illness when they come out
of hospital. Somebody might look at them and say, Wow, he's really gaunt.
So his cheeks are sunken and his skin is white or yellowy, so he's rather gaunt and he needs
a really good rehabilitation, lots of good food and perhaps some nice fresh sea air. So gaunt.
Bony generally describes somebody who just typically is bony. They don't have
a lot of muscle on the body. Yeah. Know, they look like a bit like a skeleton.
And they got you can see the bone sticking out in there particularly in that prominent bones,
like on the shoulder or on their elbows or even on the legs and say,
he's really bony. He's not very strong or there's not much muscle on him.
Bony.
And skinny. Skinny just means somebody who hasn't put on weight or doesn't put
on weight. And they you know, they they can wear these really skinny jeans and
slim fitting shirts. I really hate those people. And they they they have no
tummy. They they've no love handles. So they are just skinny.
And then we have decrepit. Yeah, decrepit. And I'd be careful with
the pronunciation. And the spelling of this. Decrepit refers to old people,
particularly things that have got old over a period of time and have
depreciated or have gone down here. So the decrepit old man shuffling along the street
with a big heavy coach is his walk was slow and ponderous and he shuffled along the street so
we can refer to him as decrepit. Buildings can also be described as decrepit, a row of decrepit
houses that are falling down. So people who are decrepit are a little bit like that as well.
Okay. So those are the words describing people who are a little bit lighter than average,
a little bit lighter than normal. So let's
switch to the other side and look at people who are a little bit heavier now. This is certainly
where you have to be careful. People don't mind being called skinny or frail or delicate.
But if you're referring to them being a bit heavier than normal or heavier than usual,
then you really do have to be careful and make sure these are friends that you're talking about.
So we can be plump. Plump can often describe young children that haven't developed.
Yet. Okay. So they they are plump for a few years because they they've just fed a
lot. They haven't had a lot of exercise. Maybe they were sick as a child and they
put on a little bit of weight. So as soon as they get to school and start running around
and cycling around, they lose that baby fat and they the plumpness disappears.
So plump is an overweight child
Corpulent. So this is quite a form of the word corpulent. Corpulent usually describes the heavy
businessman who's had one too many corporate lunches and has enjoyed
lots of rich food and wine to go with it. And their rolls of fat
are underneath the collar of his shirt, and he's got a a large double chin and
Fat around every part of his body. That would certainly be somebody described as corpulent,
big and fat, like the old religious paintings from the Bible that you would
see in museums where the men and women were painted and depicted as very heavy,
not skinny at all. So those bodies would be described as corpulent.
Stout. Stout usually refers to a man, but not always, but usually to a man. Stout means
heavy fat. Okay. Perhaps somebody who's been drinking more beer than they should. And they
get a rounded or what we call a beer belly. And that can be described as stout, the stout man. So
you'd know and describe him quite well. He's not skinny, he's not lean, he's not fit, he's stout.
He's got a beer belly and looks a little bit too fat or overweight.
Hefty. Hefty is a little bit more informal than stout and corpulent and hefty can relate
to any person. Yeah, so but it does mean that the person has got a lot of excess
weight. They're carrying a lot of excess weight. And that I usually get a little
bit hefty during the winter. I put on my winter coat means I eat a little bit more than I should.
I maybe have one
glass of wine more than I should. And I don't have so much exercise because it's
cold or just don't like going out in the cold weather. So it could be a little bit hefty
over the winter months and you try to shed those extra kilos. Spring and summer. Hefty.
Husky. Now, husky, I have to confess here that I don't use Husky to describe
the shape or the form or the frame of a person's body. You can use it. I'll
explain it now. But Husky often has to do with somebody's voice. When somebody has a
husky voice, it's deep. I can often be described as sexy and masculine.
Yeah, a husky voice. But when we describe somebody as having a husky frame,
it's usually very well-built, very athletic. Yes,
women in particular would like to look at somebody with a husky frame.
Burly. Well, burly it's not fat and it's not corpulent,
but it is bigger than you should normally be. So, you know, if you're looking at the
Front row or the what they call the the pack of our rugby 15. So if you don't know rugby.
Well, look at the French or the British teams. Or Scotland, England, Ireland,
Wales, whoever it happens to be. And you look at the guys with the numbers on the back one, two,
three. Those guys you would be burly. Yeah. So very round, quite heavy now they're very fit but
wow, you wouldn't want to be hit by those guys. So they're burly, big, strong, heavy set people.
Sturdy, Sturdy has a lot to do with strength. When somebody is sturdy, they're strong,
they're not easily knocked over. Yeah, so he's a sturdy young man. Okay? So he's he's
very solid. He might be getting a little bit heavy, but he's not fat and he's not
he's not stout. But he is certainly sturdy. He's got strong, thick legs and arms and shoulders,
so very strong. And, you know, it could describe somebody who
perhaps hasn't
grown very tall, but instead of growning tall,
he's grown out a bit. So he's got a bit of width to him. There could be described as sturdy.
Robust. Well, a person who is robust can stand up to certain knocks. So,
again, a bit like sturdy, robust can be used to describe somebody with a bit of meat on them.
You wouldn't like to bounce off them because they it could be quite painful. So they they
are robust, strong, tough, and again, not overweight, but very, very heavy.
Next word is voluptuous. Now, here we have to be really careful because this is a word
that some people might see as offensive. So we have to be careful who we described.
But if you've been watching movies and if you've watched if you're my age,
you'll know the actress. But if you're younger than me, then you might have seen the movie
recently about Marilyn Monroe. She is what I would describe as a voluptuous woman. And it's all to
do with that body shape. Women of a set with a certain shaped body look like Marilyn Monroe.
You could describe that as a voluptuous body. Okay. So I don't have to say anything else,
but be very careful because some people could take offence and feel that you're being more than
caustic or that you're passing remarks that you shouldn't or you're getting
a little bit too personal. So you have to be really, really careful.
And then finally, the word chubby
The chubby girl.
Again, people can be a little bit insulted if you call them chubby. Usually the word chubby has to
do with children, a chubby baby. So babies who have a lot of milk or feed a lot or cry a lot,
so the mother feeds them to keep them quiet. They end up getting lots of.
Facts around the wrists and the legs and the thighs and particularly the cheeks of the face
so we can say, chubby cheeks, so a little bit of fat and of course they grow out of that.
They stretch and everything will be okay later on. But when they're young babies,
he was a chubby baby or she was a chubby baby.
So describing that type of baby fat that the babies generally have.
Okay, So there we have 20 particular adjectives to do with body shape. Okay. Now, as I said,
they're all to do with the shape and the frame. And you can use these. You'll see
them written down. You see them in books. You can use them to describe people
that you see. But you have to be really careful that you don't do it in any way
that's insulting. But you certainly get the idea from the words I've given you and the
pictures that I've shown you to give you the general description of each of those words.
If you need to contact me if you need some additional help with the words or explanation,
then get in touch with me. And I certainly try to help you out.
So you need to practice those particular words, pick out a few of them in relation to
the ones describing somebody who's lighter or ones describing somebody who's heavier and just c have
a look through the Internet pictures that you can use to describe those type of people. Okay. Well,
this is Harry thanking you for watching this particular video and join me for the next lesson.