acute

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈkjuːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin acūtus (“sharp-pointed”),^[2][3][4] the past participle of acuere, to sharpen,^[2][3][4] related to acus, needle,^[2][5] from a root meaning “sharp” (see acid and edge).^[3][4][2] The acute accent translates Ancient Greek ὀξεῖα (oxeîa), sharp.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a disease, brief and severe, coming quickly to a crisis, as opposed to chronic: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After the Middle English period acute developed figurative and other meanings:^[2] sharp-pointed (by 1570, with the acute angle),^[2][6] penetrating or sharp-witted (by 1588, in Love's Labour's Lost),^[2][3] and of sounds shrill or high (1609).^[6] Of feelings or pain, intense, is from 1727, in Swift.^[2][3] The acute accent is from about 1600 as a noun,^[3] and an acute ward, for patients needing short-term treatment, from 1958.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1398 – of a disease, acute.^[2]
• 1570 – sharp-pointed; acute angle.^[6][2]
• 1588 – sharp-witted.^[2]
• c. 1600 – acute accent.^[3]
• 1727 – intense (of pain).^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of a disease, severe and coming quickly to a crisis; opposed to chronic.
2. Sharp or severe; intense: acute pain.
3. Keenly perceptive or discerning; shrewd.
4. Of great importance; critical: an acute shortage.
5. Of an angle, less than 90 degrees.
6. Of an accent mark (´), placed over a letter.

Word family

• acutely
• acuteness
• hyperacute
• nonacute
• superacute
• acuity
• acutance
• cute

Related words

• ague
• acid
• acumen
• edge

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press