cute

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kjuːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is a clipping of acute,^[2][3][4] in its sense “keenly perceptive, shrewd”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Clever, sharp, shrewd”: 1731, in Bailey's dictionary.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The informal sense “attractive, pleasing” is first recorded in 1834,^[2][6] in American students' slang,^[7][2] used of things in the same way as cunning;^[6] the American Heritage finds it of “gals” in 1838.^[5] The American Heritage suggests it was first praise for things that showed acuteness and then came to mean “attractive, fetching”, losing its link to the longer word.^[5] Barnhart suggests it was the model for the same sense of cunning, from 1844.^[2] Cutesy, “cute in a sickly or sentimental way”, is American, from 1914.^[8] In Scottish, Irish and English dialect, cute kept the sense sharp, keen, shrewd, sometimes cunning or shy.^[9]

Timeline

• 1731 – clever, shrewd.^[2][6]
• 1834 – attractive, pretty.^[2][6]
• 1914 – cutesy.^[8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Delightfully pretty or dainty: a cute puppy.
2. Attractive in a youthful or sexy way.
3. Obviously meant to charm; affected or precious.
4. Clever, shrewd.

Word family

• cutely
• cuteness
• cutesy
• cutey
• cutie

Related words

• acute
• acumen

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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)