cute

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kjuːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt

Etymology

Shortened from acute, originally “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). Meaning transferred to “pretty, fetching” by US students (slang) c.1834. Meaning drifted further to associate specifically with the pleasing attraction to features usually possessed by infants, mandated by genetics as a survival instinct ensuring a species cares for its young. See Wikipedia: Psychology of cuteness.

Adjective

cute (comparative cuter, superlative cutest)

1. Possessing physical features, behaviors, personality traits or other properties that are mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals; e.g. fair, dainty, round, and soft physical features, disproportionately large eyes and head, playfulness, fragility, helplessness, curiosity or shyness, innocence, affectionate behavior.

   Our reaction to cute attributes is understood as the way nature ensures mammals care for their young.

2. Generally, attractive or pleasing, especially in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way.

   Let's go to the mall and look for cute girls.

   What a cute movie.

3. Affected or contrived to charm; mincingly clever; precious; cutesy.

   The actor's performance was too cute for me. All that mugging to the audience killed the humor.

   Don't get cute with me, boy!

4. Mentally keen or discerning; clever; shrewd; see acute.

Derived terms

cuteness cutely cutesy

cutie cute as a button cute hoor

Translations

having features mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals

Afrikaans: oulik American Sign Language: H@Chin-PalmBackFingerUp Flatten Arabic: فاتن (ar) (faatin), قشيب (ar) (qashiib), جذاب (ar) (jadhdhaab) Bulgarian: мил (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 可愛 (cmn), 可爱 (cmn) (kě'ài) Croatian: sladak (hr) m. Czech: roztomilý (cs) m. Danish: nuttet (da), sød (da) Dutch: schattig, koddig, lief, zoetjes Esperanto: beleta (eo) Faroese: søtur (fo) m. Finnish: suloinen (fi), söpö (fi), lutunen (fi) French: mignon (fr) m., mignonne (fr) f., joli (fr) m. Georgian: საყვარელი (ka) (saqvareli), სასიამოვნო (ka) (sasiamovno) German: goldig (de), niedlich (de), süß (de) Hebrew: חמוד (khamud) m., חמודה (khamuda) f. (1 - with comical touch, 2) Hindi: प्यारा (hi) (pyārā) Hungarian: aranyos (hu), helyes (hu), cuki (hu), édes (hu) Icelandic: sætur (is) m., snotur (is) m.

Indonesian: cakep Italian: carino (it), grazioso (it) Japanese: 可愛い (ja) (かわいい, kawaii) Korean: 귀엽다 (ko) (gwiyeopda) (predicative), 귀여운 (ko) (gwiyeoun) (attributive) Macedonian: симпатична (mk) (simpatična) f. Malay: comel Norwegian: søt (no) Persian: ناز (fa) (nâz) Polish: słodki (pl) m., uroczy (pl) m. Portuguese: fofo (pt) Romanian: drăguț (ro), drăgălaș (ro) Russian: милый (ru) (mílyj), хорошенький (ru) (xoróšen'kij), симпатичный (ru) (simpatíčnyj) Scottish Gaelic: bòidheach, grinn Sicilian: biddicchiu (scn) Slovene: srčkan Spanish: lindo (es) m., precioso (es) m., gracioso (es), chulo (es), pituso (es) Swedish: gullig (sv), söt (sv) Tamil: அன்பான  (ta) (aṉpāṉa) Thai: น่ารัก (th) Urdu: معصوم

attractive or pleasing in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way

Bulgarian: привлекателен (bg) Dutch: leuk, geestig, guitig, olijk Indonesian: imut (id) Italian: carino (it) m.

Portuguese: bonitinho (pt) Russian: симпатичный (ru) (simpatíčnyj), привлекательный (ru) (privlekátel'nyj)

dated: mentally keen or discerning; clever, shrewd

Dutch: knap (nl)

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Italian

Wikipedia ^it

Noun

cute f. (plural cuti)

1. (anatomy) Cutis, skin (of a person)

Synonyms

• pelle

Derived terms

• cutaneo

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Latin

Noun

cute

1. ablative singular of cutis

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Romanian

Etymology

From Latin cōs, cotem.

Noun

cute f. (plural cute)

1. whetstone

Synonyms

• gresie