beauty

beauty

English

Etymology

From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellitātem (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæġernes, whence Modern English fairness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbjuːti/
  • (US) IPA^(key): [ˈbjuɾi]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Norfolk) IPA^(key): /ˈbuːti/
• (Norfolk) Homophone: booty
• Rhymes: -uːti

Noun

beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)

1. The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.
   • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], OCLC 1467112, lines 1–5, page 3:

     A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     `Say, hast thou seen enough!' `I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded,' I said hoarsely, lifting my hand to cover up my eyes.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, “chapter I”, in The House Behind the Cedars:

     Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered.

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 152:

     "The aviators didn't get him," Denham replied slowly. "What?" "It was Beauty. As always Beauty killed the Beast."

   • 1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro
2. Someone who is beautiful.

   Brigitte Bardot was a renowned beauty.

3. Something that is particularly good or pleasing.

   What a goal! That was a real beauty!

4. An excellent or egregious example of something.

   He got into a fight and ended up with two black eyes – two real beauties!

5. (with the definite article) The excellence or genius of a scheme or decision.

   The beauty of the deal is it costs nothing!

6. (physics, obsolete) A beauty quark (now called bottom quark).
7. Beauty treatment; cosmetology.
8. (obsolete) Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion.
   • 1653, Jeremy Taylor, “Twenty-five Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Winter Half-year, […]: Sermon XVIII. [The Marriage Ring; or, The Mysteriousness and Duties of Marriage.] Part II.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume V, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, OCLC 956524510, page 277:

     Menander in the comedy brings in a man turning his wife from his house, because she stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty.

9. (archaic, in the plural) Beautiful passages or extracts of poetry.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "beauty": natural, great, real, physical, exotic, inner, spiritual, strange, divine, visual, heavenly, intellectual, facial, attractive, sensuous, sensual, seductive, musical, austere, alluring, mathematical, geometric, astounding, bodily, pictorial.

Synonyms

• (property, quality): good-lookingness, gorgeousness, inspiration, loveliness, see Thesaurus:beauty
• (someone who is beautiful): belle, looker, good looker, see Thesaurus:beautiful person or Thesaurus:beautiful woman
• (something pleasing): gem, jewel

Antonyms

• (property, quality): repulsiveness, homeliness, ugliness

Derived terms

• age before beauty
• anti-beauty quark
• bathing beauty
• beaut
• beauteous
• beautician
• beautifiable
• beautification
• beautifier
• beautiful
• beautifully
• beautifulness
• beautify
• beautiless
• beautility
• beautisome
• beauty and the beast
• beautyberry
• beauty blender
• beautybush
• beauty bush
• beauty contest
• beauty dish
• beautydom
• beauty factory
• beauty heart radish
• beautyhood
• beauty is in the eye of the beholder
• beauty is only skin deep
• beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder
• beauty mark
• beauty-mark
• beauty pageant
• beauty parlor
• beauty parlour
• beauty product
• beauty quark
• beauty queen
• beauty rest
• beauty salon
• beauty school
• beauty shop
• beauty shot
• beauty-sleep
• beauty sleep
• beauty spot
• betel nut beauty
• bewdy
• black beauty
• Camberwell beauty
• Flemish beauty
• K-beauty
• line of beauty
• meadow beauty
• painted beauty
• plastic beauty
• Rutland beauty
• sleeping beauty
• Sleeping Beauty
• spring beauty
• you beauty

 

Descendants

• → Cebuano: byuti

Translations

quality of pleasing appearance

Arabic: جَمَال‎ (ar) m (jamāl), زَيْن‎ (ar) m (zayn) Egyptian Arabic: جمال‎ m (gamāl) Moroccan Arabic: زين‎ m (zayn), زين‎ m (zīn) Armenian: գեղեցկություն (hy) (gełecʿkutʿyun) Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܫܘܼܦܪܵܐ‎ (šupra) Azerbaijani: gözəllik (az), hüsn (poetic) Belarusian: прыгажо́сць f (pryhažóscʹ), хараство́ n (xarastvó), краса́ f (krasá) Bengali: খুবসুরতী (khubsurôtī), জামাল (jamal), সৌন্দর্য (bn) (soundôrĵô) Berber: aẓři, aẓli, tiẓilt Bulgarian: ху́бост (bg) f (húbost), красота́ (bg) f (krasotá), пре́лест (bg) f (prélest) Catalan: bellesa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 美麗／美丽 (zh) (měilì), 漂亮 (zh) (piàoliang), 美 (zh) (měi) Wu: 美 ('me1) Coptic: ⲙⲛⲧⲥⲁⲉⲓⲉ (mntsaeie) Czech: krása (cs) f Danish: skønhed c Dutch: schoonheid (nl) f Egyptian: (nfrw) Esperanto: belo Estonian: ilu Finnish: kauneus (fi) French: beauté (fr) f Friulian: bielece f Galician: beleza (gl) f, fermosura f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Schönheit (de) f Greek: ομορφιά (el) f (omorfiá) Ancient: κάλλος f (kállos) Hebrew: יופי‎ m (yófi) Hindi: सौन्दर्य (saundarya), सुंदरता (hi) (sundartā), ख़ूबसूरती f (xūbsūrtī), हुस्न (hi) m (husna) Hungarian: szépség (hu) Icelandic: fegurð (is) f Ido: beleso (io) Ingrian: käpehys Irish: áilleacht f, spéiriúlacht f, áille f, scéimh f, maise f, breáichte f Istriot: balissa f Italian: bellezza (it) f Japanese: 美しさ (ja) (うつくしさ, utsukushisa), (component) 美 (ja) (び, bi) Korean: 아름다움 (ko) (areumdaum), 미(美) (ko) (mi) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: جوانی‎ (ku) (cwanî) Kyrgyz: сулуулук (ky) (suluuluk), кооздук (ky) (koozduk) Latin: pulchritūdō f, formōsitās f Latvian: daiļums m, skaistums m, glītums m Lithuanian: gražumas m, grožis (lt) m Low German: Schöönheit f Macedonian: уба́вина f (ubávina), красо́та f (krasóta), у́бост f (úbost) Maharastri Prakrit: 𑀭𑀽𑀅 (rūa) Malayalam: സൗന്ദര്യം (ml) (saundaryaṃ), മനോഹാരിത (ml) (manōhārita) Maltese: sbuħija f Manx: aalid m, aalinid, bwoyid m, stoamid Maori: rerehua Mongolian: гоо үзэсгэлэн (goo üzesgelen), сайхан байдал (sajxan bajdal) Nheengatu: purangasawa Norman: bieauté f (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: skjønnhet (no) m or f Nynorsk: venleik (nn) m, skjønnheit (nn) f Occitan: belesa (oc) f Old English: fægernes f Old French: biauté f Persian: زیبایی‎ (fa), جمال‎ (fa), حسن‎ (fa), قشنگی‎ (fa) Plautdietsch: Scheenheit f Polish: piękno (pl) n, uroda (pl) f Portuguese: beleza (pt) f Romanian: frumusețe (ro) f Romansch: bellezza f (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader), bellezia f (Sursilvan), baleztgia f (Sutsilvan), balegia f (Sutsilvan), belezza f (Surmiran) Russian: красота́ (ru) f (krasotá), пре́лесть (ru) f (prélestʹ), краса́ (ru) f (krasá) (dated), лепота́ (ru) f (lepotá) (dated, poetic) Sanskrit: इन्दिरा (sa) f (indirā) Sardinian: bellesa f Scots: beauty, brawness Scottish Gaelic: àilleachd f, maise f, sgèimh f, bòidhchead f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: лепота f, красота f (poetic), бај m (poetic), дивота Roman: lepota (sh) f, krasota (sh) f (poetic), baj (sh) m (poetic), divota (sh) Sicilian: bidizza f Slovak: krása f Slovene: lepota (sl) f Somali: qurux Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: rědnosć f Spanish: belleza (es) f, hermosura (es) f, preciosidad f, preciosura f, beldad (es) f, lindeza (es) f Sudovian: grozis m Swahili: urembo (sw), uzuri (sw), jamala (sw) Swedish: skönhet (sv) c, fägring (sv) c (poetic) Tagalog: ganda, kagandahan Tajik: зебоӣ (tg) (zeboyī) Tamil: அழகு (ta) (aḻaku), எழில் (ta) (eḻil), சௌந்தரியம் (ta) (cauntariyam) Telugu: అందము (te) (andamu), చక్కదనము (te) (cakkadanamu) Thai: ความสวย (th) (kwaam-sǔai), ความสวยงาม (th) (kwaam-sǔai-ngaam) Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Turkish: güzellik (tr) Tuvan: чаражы (çarajı) Ukrainian: краса́ f (krasá), вро́да f (vróda) Urdu: خوبصورتی‎ f (xūbsūrtī) Venetian: bełézsa f Volapük: jön (vo) Votic: ilozuz Welsh: harddwch m, prydferthwch m Yiddish: שיינקײַט‎ f (sheynkayt)

someone beautiful: male

Belarusian: прыгажу́н m (pryhažún), красу́н m (krasún) Bulgarian: красавец (bg) m (krasavec) Chinese: Mandarin: 帥哥／帅哥 (zh) (shuàigē) Dutch: beauty (nl), schoonheid (nl), schone (nl) Esperanto: belulo Finnish: komistus (fi) German: (nominalized adjective) Schöner m Hindi: सुन्दर (hi) m (sundar) Japanese: 美少年 (びしょうねん, bishōnen), 美男 (ja) (びなん, binan), 美男子 (ja) (びだんし, bidanshi), 美青年 (ja) (びせいねん, biseinen), イケメン (ja) (いけめん, ikemen) Kazakh: сұлу (sūlu) Korean: 미소년(美少年) (ko) (misonyeon), 미남(美男) (ko) (minam) Latvian: skaistulis m Macedonian: у́бавец m (úbavec) Malayalam: സുന്ദരൻ (ml) (sundaraṉ) Nheengatu: purangasawa Okinawan: 清らー (ちゅらー, churā) Portuguese: beleza (pt) f Russian: краса́вец (ru) m (krasávec), краса́вчик (ru) m (krasávčik) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: лепотан m, љепотан m Roman: lepotan (sh) m, ljepotan (sh) m Slovene: lepotec m Spanish: guapo (es) m Tagalog: gwapo Tamil: அழகன் (ta) (aḻakaṉ) Telugu: అందగాడు (te) (andagāḍu) Ukrainian: кра́сень m (krásenʹ), красу́нь m (krasúnʹ), вродли́вець m (vrodlývecʹ), хорошу́н (uk) m (xorošún), гарню́к m (harnjúk) Volapük: (♂♀) jönan, (♂) hijönan

someone beautiful: female

Arabic: حَسْنَاء‎ (ar) f (ḥasnāʾ), جَمِيلَة‎ f (jamīla), غَانِيَة‎ f (ḡāniya) Armenian: գեղեցկուհի (hy) (gełecʿkuhi) Belarusian: прыгажу́ня f (pryhažúnja), красу́ня f (krasúnja), кра́ля f (králja) Bulgarian: краса́вица (bg) f (krasávica) Catalan: bellesa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 美人 (zh) (měirén), 美女 (zh) (měinǚ) Czech: kráska (cs) f, krasavice (cs) f Danish: skønhed c Dutch: schoonheid (nl), schone (nl) f Esperanto: belulino Finnish: kaunokainen (fi), kaunotar (fi) French: beauté (fr) f German: Schönheit (de) f, Schöne (de) f (nominalized adjective) Greek: καλλονή (el) f (kalloní) Hebrew: יְפֵהפִיָה‎ f (yfēfiyá) Hindi: सुन्दरी (hi) f (sundarī) Hungarian: szépség (hu) Interlingua: beltate (ia) Irish: ainnir f, bé f, spéirbhean f Italian: bellezza (it) f Japanese: 美人 (ja) (びじん, bijin), 美女 (ja) (びじょ, bijo), 別嬪 (ja) (べっぴん, beppin) (dated) Kazakh: сұлу (sūlu), ару (aru) Korean: 미인(美人) (ko) (miin), 미녀(美女) (ko) (minyeo) Latvian: skaistule f, daiļava f Lithuanian: gražuolė f Macedonian: уба́вица f (ubávica) Malayalam: സുന്ദരി (ml) (sundari) Nheengatu: purangasawa Norwegian: Bokmål: skjønnhet (no) m or f Nynorsk: skjønnheit (nn) f Oki-no-Erabu: 清ら女 (ちゅらうなぐ, churaunagu) Okinawan: 清らー (ちゅらー, churā), 清ら影 (ちゅらかーぎー, churakāgī) Polish: piękność (pl) f, krasawica (pl) f (archaic), laska (pl) f (low colloquial) Portuguese: beleza (pt) f, beldade (pt) f Romanian: frumusețe (ro) f Russian: краса́вица (ru) f (krasávica), красо́тка (ru) f (krasótka), кра́ля (ru) f (králja) (low colloquial) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: лепотица f, љепотица f, лепојка f, љепојка f Roman: lepotica (sh) f, ljepotica (sh) f, lepojka f, ljepojka (sh) f Slovak: kráska f, krásavica f Slovene: lepotica f Spanish: guapa (es) f, belleza (es) f Swedish: skönhet (sv) c Tamil: அழகி (ta) (aḻaki) Ukrainian: красу́ня f (krasúnja), вродли́виця f (vrodlývycja), красу́ха f (krasúxa), кра́ля (uk) f (králja), хорошу́ля f (xorošúlja) Vietnamese: mỹ nhân (vi) (美人), mỹ nữ (vi) Volapük: (♂♀) jönan, (♀) jijönan Yoron: めーらび (mērabi)

something particularly good or pleasing

Bulgarian: красота (bg) f (krasota) Chinese: Mandarin: 美 (zh) (měi) Czech: krása (cs) f Dutch: juweeltje (nl) n, prachtexemplaar (nl) n Finnish: kaunokainen (fi) German: Prachtstück (de) n Latvian: skaistulis m, skaistums m Malayalam: മനോഹരം (ml) (manōharaṃ), സുന്ദരം (ml) (sundaraṃ) Polish: piękność (pl) f Portuguese: beleza (pt) f Russian: конфе́тка (ru) f (konfétka) Spanish: belleza (es) f Tamil: தலைசிறந்த (talaiciṟanta)

excellent or egregious example of something

excellence or genius

Dutch: (please verify) het mooie (nl) n Finnish: kauneus (fi) Hungarian: szépség (hu)

beauty quark — see bottom quark

beauty treatment — see cosmetology

prevailing style or taste

Finnish: kauneusihanne

beautiful passages or extracts of poetry

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) beauté (fr) f Hebrew: (please verify) יופי‎ m (yofi) Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) maise f, (please verify) brèaghachd f, (please verify) bòidhchead f, (please verify) grinneas m, (please verify) sgèimh f Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) ljepota (sh) f

See also

• usefulness

Interjection

beauty

1. (Canada) Thanks!
2. (Canada) Cool!

   It's the long weekend. Beauty!

Adjective

beauty (comparative more beauty, superlative most beauty)

1. (Canada) Of high quality, well done.

   He made a beauty pass through the neutral zone.

Verb

beauty (third-person singular simple present beauties, present participle beautying, simple past and past participle beautied)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make beautiful.

Further reading

• beauty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• beauty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English beauty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbjuː.ti/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: beau‧ty

Noun

beauty f (plural beauty's, diminutive beauty'tje n)

1. A beauty, looker, beautiful person
2. A beautiful other creature or thing

   Die prachtige hengst is al net zo'n beauty als z'n ruiter

   That gorgeous stallion is as much of a beauty as his rider

3. Human beauty, as the object or goal of cosmetics etc.

Synonyms

• schoonheid
• (beautiful thing only): juweeltje n, prachtexemplaar n