English
beautiful
Beautiful comes from Middle English bewteful, from beaute ‘beauty’ + -ful; beaute is from Anglo-Norman biauté, ultimately from Latin bellus ‘beautiful’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos‘good’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos
- Old Latin, derivedc. 700–75 BCE*duenelosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellus‘beautiful’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bellitātem‘beauty’reconstructed
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400biauté
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beaute
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500bewteful
- Englishearliest quotation 1622beautiful
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos‘good’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos
- Old Latin, derivedc. 700–75 BCE*duenelosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellus‘beautiful’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bellitātem‘beauty’reconstructed
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400biauté
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beaute
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500bewteful
- Englishearliest quotation 1622beautiful
Earliest quotation: 1622, Michael Drayton, The Sixe and Twentieth Song: “[A]s amongſt the Moores, the Iettieſt blacke are deem'd…”
Formed from beauty + -ful
Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
…
Latin bellus ‘beautiful, pretty’
Vulgar Latin *bellitātem ‘beauty’
Old French beauté
Middle English bewty
English beauty
The story
In this sense, largely displaced Old English fæġer (whence fair).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’
down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, dynastic, tine, taw, benefice, 93 more
through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
ben, bonus, beneficial, rebellion, optimal, bonnie, optimism, boon, beneficiary, rebellious, bonny, bene, rebelling, bonbon, 37 more
through Old Latin duenos
through Old Latin *duenelos
rebel, revel, bellicose, 19 more
through Latin bellus ‘beautiful, pretty, handsome’
boo, bello, beal, bauble, beaucoup, 5 more
through Middle English beaute
Today it means
adj Possessing beauty, impressing the eye; attractive.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *dwenos / beautiful