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word of the day

The word for today is…

cute (adjective, noun):

adjective
1a : clever or shrewd often in an underhanded manner
b : impertinent, smart-alecky
2 : attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way
3 : obviously straining for effect

noun
: the quality or state of being cute or cutesy

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : Cute is a word whose meaning has gone has gone through a thorough historical transformation. There is no argument about cute’s derivation: it is a shortening of acute (and was sometimes actually spelled ‘cute). Acute has meant “clever, shrewd” since Shakespeare’s time and has had a set of other meanings as well, but it has never been defined as “attractive or pretty.” The contraction cute first appears in the early 18th century, but only a century later does it begin to take on its distinctive modern meaning; even after 1900 children were still being called cute as a compliment to their intelligence. (Compare the contemporaneous word cunning, with its strikingly similar ambiguity.) A few years into the century, we start to see the word—finally!—in descriptions of puppies and kittens. But the original sense hasn’t completely vanished; in such sentences as “Don’t get cute with me,” cute has nothing to do with adorable sweetness.

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