beauty

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈbjuː.ti/, US /ˈbjuː.t̬i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English beaute, also bealte,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman beute, Old French biauté, earlier beltet,^[4][2] from Vulgar Latin *bellitātem (“the state of being handsome”),^[4][2][3] from Latin bellus (“pretty, handsome, charming”),^[4][2][5] which Watkins traces to a diminutive of Proto-Indo-European *deu- (“to do, perform; show favour”).^[4] Merriam-Webster relates bellus to Latin bonus “good”.^[6] It is related to beau and belle.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physical attractiveness, in the human face or figure: about 1275 in the OED,^[7] before 1325 in Cursor Mundi in Barnhart,^[2] and the early 14th century in Etymonline, which also has the Middle English sense “goodness, courtesy”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin bellus was used especially of women and children, or ironically of men.^[4] Beauty in things other than the human form is from 1340,^[7] and the general quality that pleases the senses or mind from about 1300.^[7] A beautiful person, especially a beautiful woman, often used ironically, is from 1483.^[7] Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is an old idea found in Theocritus, recorded in its English form from the 17th century, and beauty is only skin-deep from the early 17th century.^[5] The colloquial sense, an excellent example of something, as in that's a beauty, is common in dialect and general speech.^[8][9] Beauteous is from about 1400, beautiful from about 1443, beautify from 1526 and beautician from 1924.^[2] Stendhal defined beauty as “the promise of happiness”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – beauty of face or figure.^[7]
• c. 1300 – beauty in general.^[7]
• c. 1443 – beautiful.^[2]
• 1483 – a beautiful person.^[7]
• 1526 – beautify.^[2]
• early 17th century – “beauty is only skin-deep”.^[5]
• 1924 – beautician.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The quality of being pleasing to the senses or the mind, as through harmony of form or colour.
2. A beautiful person, especially a woman.
3. An excellent or striking example of something.
4. An attractive feature or advantage: the beauty of the plan.

Word family

• beaut
• beauteous
• beautician
• beautiful
• beautify
• beautyberry
• beautybush
• nonbeauty

Related words

• beau
• belle
• embellish
• bounty

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin