Translation guide
Describes a person, taste, or thing that is elegant, polished, cultured, or sophisticated. Japanese uses different words depending on whether you mean a person's character, manners, taste, or the quality of an object.
She is very refined.
refined taste
Describing someone who has good manners, refined taste, or a polished personality.
A な-adjective meaning elegant, refined, graceful. Commonly used for people, their behavior, or appearance.
She is a very refined person.
He speaks in a refined manner.
Literally 'polished', used for someone with sophisticated taste or style. Often implies worldly experience.
A な-adjective meaning elegant, graceful. Often used for demeanor or atmosphere.
A phrase meaning 'has class/refinement'. Used for people or things.
That person is refined, isn't he?
Describing something like fashion, interior design, or art that is elegant and not crude.
The past tense of 洗練する used as an adjective. Means polished, sophisticated, refined. Very common for design, taste, or style.
The interior design of this shop is refined.
A bag with a refined design.
Also used for objects, meaning elegant and not gaudy.
A kimono with refined colors.
A traditional aesthetic term meaning chic, stylish, and refined in a subtle, understated way. Often used in the context of Japanese arts or fashion.
Describing something like oil, sugar, or metal that has been processed to remove unwanted elements.
上品 emphasizes elegance and good manners, often in a traditional sense. 洗練された emphasizes sophistication and polish, often with a modern or cosmopolitan nuance. A person can be 上品 without being 洗練された (e.g., a graceful but naive country person), and vice versa (a sophisticated but perhaps not traditionally elegant person).
洗練 is for abstract refinement (taste, style, personality). For physical refining of substances, use 精製 (oil, sugar) or 精錬 (metals).
He has a refined way of speaking.
This restaurant has a refined atmosphere.
He has refined taste.
彼女の優雅な振る舞いに感心した。
I was impressed by her refined behavior.
His way of dressing is refined/chic.