Thomas Chandler Haliburton
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The Unlikely Evolution of Cute
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.
Examples of cute in a Sentence
Averi Baudler, PEOPLE, 21 Oct. 2025
Looking cute on the court was an instant confidence boost.
—Sandy Pierre, Refinery29, 20 Oct. 2025
Judith Martin, Mercury News, 16 Sep. 2025
But the ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis are world-class cute.
—Keith Sharon, The Tennessean, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for cute
Cite this Entry
“Cute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cute. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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