nonpareil

Etymology

From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pareil, from Late Latin pāriculus (“equal; like; of a number: even”), from Latin pār (“equal; like; of a number: even; suitable”) + -culus (a variant of -ulus (suffix forming diminutives)). Noun sense 4 (size of type standardized at 6-point) is usually taken to derive from the attractive type cut by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio De Gregori (fl. 1482–1503 and 1496–1527 respectively) for their 1498 edition of the divine offices in Venice; it was for a long time the smallest-sized type in use.

adj

1. (frequently postpositive) Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
   He informed the clerk that he would remain three or four days, inquired concerning the sailing of European steamships, and sank into the blissful inanition of the nonpareil hotel with the contented air of a traveller in his favorite inn. 1919, O. Henry, “Transients in Arcadia”, in The Voice of the City
   […]the series stars Samantha Morton as Margaret Wells, a London brothel owner; Ms. Brown Findlay as Charlotte, her older daughter and the city’s courtesan nonpareil; […] 2017-03-22, Kathryn Shattuck, “‘Harlots,’ on Hulu, Has Sex. But Settle Down, Guys.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

noun

1. (countable) A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
   (a wren) crept or crawled, just like a true tree-creeper. I was, as I say, quite close, and watched it most attentively. It certainly—as far as good looking can settle it—did not assist itself with the wings. They remained close against the sides, or, if they moved at all, it was imperceptible to my eyes (which, by the way, are non-pareils). 1901, Edmund Selous, Bird Watching, p. 240
2. (countable, biology)
   1. The blue underwing or Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), a species of moth distributed across the Palearctic; also (obsolete) any of a number of moths of other species.
   2. (chiefly Australia, archaic) In full nonpareil parrot: the eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius), a species of rosella (parrot) native to southeastern Australia.
   3. (chiefly US) The painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America.
   4. (archaic) In full nonpareil apple: a variety of apple tasting both sweet and tart which ripens very late in the season; also, the tree producing this fruit.
3. (countable, chiefly US, cooking)
   1. (archaic) Any of various types of small sweets.
   2. (by extension, dated) A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
   3. (by extension) A small, flat chocolate drop covered with such pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.
   4. (by extension) A caper (“pickled edible flower bud”) of the smallest size.
4. (uncountable, typography, chiefly historical) The size of type between ruby and emerald (or, in the United States, between agate and minion), standardized as 6-point; (countable) a slug of this size.
   I believe that letters which are less than a millimetre and a half (1/17 inch) high, will finally prove injurious to the eye. How little attention has hitherto been paid to this important subject is exemplified in the fact that even oculistic journals and books frequently contain nonpareil, or letters only a millimetre (1/25 inch) high. May 19 1881, Hermann Cohn, “Eyes and School-Books”, in Popular Science Monthly