Etymologically
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beauty

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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

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