cuten

English[edit]

From cute +‎ -en.

cuten (third-person singular simple present cutens, present participle cutening, simple past and past participle cutened)

(transitive) To make cute
- 2011, Jaimy Gordon, Bogeywoman, page 12:
  So Doggett tented us together and probably hoped I would drag Lou Rae behind me to Evening Pro and Chunka Chow and Wood Wiz and Lake Sci (and by now I was thinking grimly: Why these bleached-bra Christian girls from Maine have to cuten the entire world with nicknames I don't know) but exactly the opposite happened.
- 2017, E. Taylor Atkins, A History of Popular Culture in Japan:
  Perhaps because of its utility for reinforcing traditional notions of female delicacy and dependency, and for displacing unpleasant thoughts, the kawaisa aesthetic has arguably been Japan's most successful cultural export to East and Southeast Asian countries, which have enthusiastically joined its unannounced campaign to cuten up our ugly world.
(intransitive) To become cute
- 2015, Teri Metcalf, Rambler Rose:
  He looked like a miniature version of his father. My stepfather's features were okay on a grown man, but they didn't look so good on a baby. Mommy must have read the worried look on my face. She laughed gaily and assured me, “Your brother still has the new baby look. Don't worry. He'll start to 'cuten up' real soon.” “I sure hope so,” I said to myself. She was absolutely glowing and proud of the fact that Arthur looked just like his daddy.