forte
noun
definition 1: a strong or exceptional point, such as a talent or skill.
example: His forte as a baker is making delectable chocolate desserts.
example: Witty dialogue is the author’s forte.
definition 2: a sword blade’s stronger part, from the base to the middle.
Examples from books
So came I and, reaching it down, drew it from the scabbard and saw the blade very bright as it had been well cared for. And graven on the forte of the blade was the Conisby blazon and the legend: ROUSE ME NOT. (J. Farnol, Black Bartlemy’s Treasure)
Self-control not being Jerry’s forte, he uttered a great cry, presented the blunderbuss with both hands, shut his eyes, and fired. (R.M. Ballantyne, The Settler and the Savage)
Usage Note:
You may have heard “forte” pronounced differently by different people, and it is natural to wonder which pronunciation is correct. Does “forte” rhyme with “port”? Or does it have two-syllables and rhyme with the second part of “pianoforte,” a loan word from Italian? Answering such questions is what dictionaries are for. However, there is no entirely satisfactory right answer. The most common pronunciation is the two-syllable pronunciation (for teI), perhaps due to the word’s homography (identical spelling) with the Italian musical term forte, which means “loud” or “with force,” and is pronounced for teI. However, the English word in question was actually borrowed not from Italian, but from French. The noun “forte” (“a strength”) in French is derived from the French adjective “forte” (“strong”). In French, “forte” has a silent e and sounds very close to English “fort.”
It might be expected that language experts would have deferred to the hard facts of the word’s French origins and shrunk from a pronunciation that arose through error. One hundred years ago, Webster’s 1913 and the Century Dictionary both gave fort as the only pronunciation for “forte.” These days, however, most major dictionaries give the two-syllable pronunciation first place. Indeed, the Usage Panel of the American Heritage dictionaries prefers it by a strong majority (74 percent). The Usage Panel concedes that pronouncing the word “forte” remains “a delicate situation,” and concludes: “Speakers who are aware of the origin of the word may wish to continue to pronounce it as one syllable but at an increasing risk of puzzling their listeners.” An elegantly phrased, admirably diplomatic proviso, to be sure, but a touch backhanded. For surely in the vast majority of language situations, the importance of making oneself understood by one’s audience should outweigh any rule, convention, or fact. Would you rather be right or understood?