Cute

Posted by ESC on October 17, 2001

In Reply to: Cute posted by Lauren and Danny on October 16, 2001

: Danny and myself would greatly appreciate kowing the following:

:
: :What is the origin of the word cute?

: Thank you.

:
: Lauren

cute - adj. 1731, acute, clever, shortened from acute. The informal sense of attractive, pleasing, is first recorded in 1834, in American English students' slang.

acute - adj. Before 1398, describing a brief and severe disease, fever, etc.Later acute began to develop figurative and other extra meanings; sharp, pointed ; penetrating, sharp-witted; ; intense, sharply felt .

From the "Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology" by Robert K. Barnhart (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1995).