Meaning and Spelling of a specific term

I was watching an episode of NCIS, and the medical examiner used a term I am unfamiliar with. Could you help with the spelling and meaning. I'm sorry, I can only type it phonetically, as I recall..."of a certain jenee say qua..." Thanks for any help you can offer! JB

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EducatorPermalink Reply by stu harris on January 2, 2011 at 1:58am

This is a VERY well-known expression, adopted into the English language and known by many people who know no actual French.

It's "Je ne sais quoi" and its literal meaning is I don't know what. I would translate it, if I had to, as A certain indefinable something.

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Permalink Reply by Janet Barbour on January 2, 2011 at 3:24am

Merci beaucoup!

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Permalink Reply by Anna Rose on January 2, 2011 at 5:41am

"je ne sais quoi" is a fairly common phrase used in english, literally it means "I don't know what", and it basically is used to say "it has a certain characteristic I can;t name, but makes it unique/special/noteworthy". hope that helps, and you can google the correct spelling for a better understanding of the term. ^_^