gorgeous

English

Etymology

From Early Modern English gorgious, gorgeouse, from Middle French gorgias (“elegant, fashionable”), from Old French gourgias, gorgias (“gorgeous, gaudy, flaunting, gallant, fine”), of uncertain formation, but apparently connected with Old French gorgias (“a gorget, ruffle for the neck”), from Old French gorge (“bosom, throat”); see gorge. Sense evolution was probably that of "swelling of the throat or bosom due to pride, bridling up" to "assume an air of importance, flaunting".

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɡɔːdʒəs/, X-SAMPA: /"gO:dZ@s/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɡɔɹdʒəs/, X-SAMPA: /"gOrdZ@s/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)dʒəs

Adjective

gorgeous (comparative more gorgeous, superlative most gorgeous)

1. (of a person or place) very beautiful.

   All the contest judges agreed that Brigitt was absolutely gorgeous.

   The sunsets in Hawaii are gorgeous.

2. (rare) Very enjoyable, pleasant, tasty etc.

   Israeli hummus is absolutely gorgeous.

Translations

very beautiful

• Azeri: möhtəşəm (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 華麗 (cmn), 华丽 (cmn) (huálì), 絢爛 (cmn), 绚烂 (cmn) (xuànlàn)

• Finnish: upea (fi), hulppea (fi)
• French: magnifique (fr)
• German: fantastisch (de), großartig (de), herrlich (de), hinreißend (de), prachtvoll (de), sagenhaft (de), toll (de) (coll.), traumhaft (de), umwerfend (de) (coll.), wunderschön (de)
• Hungarian: bámulatos (hu), káprázatos (hu)
• Icelandic: gullfallegur (is)

• Indonesian: anggun (id)
• Italian: magnifico (it)
• Latvian: krāšņs (lv), grezns (lv)
• Norwegian: smellvakker (no)
• Polish: przepiękny (pl)
• Portuguese: magnífico (pt) m, lindíssimo (pt) m
• Romanian: magnific (ro) m and n, splendid (ro) m and n, superb (ro) m
• Russian: великолепный (ru) (velikolepnyj), прекрасный (ru) (prekrasnyj)
• Spanish: guapísimo (es)
• Turkish: debdebeli (tr), görkemli (tr), göz kamaştırıcı (tr), harikulade (tr), muhteşem (tr)

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:beautiful

Derived terms

• gorgeously
• gorgeousness