forte
n. countablen. something that you are particularly good at. It is your strongest skill or talent.
n. a person's strong point or a particular area of expertise. Derived from the French word for 'strong', it refers to a skill or subject in which one excels.
Cooking has never been my forte.
While she is a brilliant coder, public speaking is not exactly her forte.
The diplomat found that while high-level negotiations were his forte, the tedious administrative tasks of the embassy were far more challenging.
Borrowed 1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French; disyllabic pronunciation by association with Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and fortis.
Borrowed from Italian forte (“strong”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in the negative ('not my forte') to politely admit a lack of skill.
He is very forte at mathMath is his forteForte is a noun, not an adjective; you cannot be 'forte at' something, but something can be your forte.
Last updated May 7, 2026