Other forms: fortes
Somebody's forte is the thing they do especially well. Not my forte, his forte is detail, playing to her forte.
It comes from fencing, where the forte is the strong part of the blade near the hilt, as against the foible near the tip. The French sense is said in one syllable and the Italian musical direction meaning loud is said in two, which is where the confusion starts.
1nounforteThe thing a person does especially well.
“Cooking isn't really my forte, so I'll bring the drinks instead.”
forte is a strength.
French fort means strong, from Latin fortis. The musical forte is the Italian word for loud.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰerǵʰ-
Latin
fortis — strong
English, today
forte
Borrowed 1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French; disyllabic pronunciation by association with forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”). a doublet of fort and fortis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA