beautiful

English

Etymology

(1520) From beauty + -ful (“full of”). Displaced earlier sheen (from Middle English schene (“beautiful”), from Old English scīene (“beautiful”)), Middle English wliti (“beautiful”), from Old English wlitiġ (“beautiful”).

Pronunciation

enPR: byo͞oʹtĭ-fəl, IPA: [ˈbjuːtɪfəɫ], X-SAMPA: /"bju:tIf@l/
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Hyphenation: beau‧ti‧ful

Adjective

beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)

Attractive and possessing charm.
Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.

There's a beautiful lake by the town.
(of the weather) pleasant; clear.
It's beautiful outside, let's go for a walk.
well executed
The skater performed a beautiful axel.
(as a pro-sentence) How beautiful that is!
Beautiful! What a catch! (referring to an athlete catching a ball)
(as a pro-sentence; ironic) How unfortunate that is!
Beautiful! I dropped the soup on the floor!

Usage notes

The comparatives beautifuler and beautifuller, and the superlatives beautifulest and beautifullest have also occasionally been used, but are considered dated or obsolete.

Synonyms

(possessing charm and attractive): beauteous, attractive, cute, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, sheen, handsome, hot (slang), lovely, nice-looking, pretty, shapely, fit (slang)
(of the weather): clear, fine, nice, pleasant, sunny
(well executed): excellent, exceptional, good, great, marvellous/marvelous, perfect, stylish, wonderful
(ironic: how unfortunate): great, marvellous/marvelous, nice, very nice, wonderful (any of these can be prefixed with an intensifier such as bloody, damned or just)
See also Wikisaurus:beautiful

Antonyms

(possessing charm and attractive): grotesque, hideous, homely, plain, misshapen, repulsive, ugly; unbeautiful
(of the weather): bad, cloudy, dull, miserable, overcast, rainy, wet
(well executed): average, bad, mediocre, poor, shoddy, substandard, terrible, weak

Derived terms

Related terms

beauty
- See also Wikisaurus:beautiful woman

Translations

possessing charm and attractive

Afrikaans: mooi
Albanian: i bukur m, e bukur f
American Sign Language: 5@NearCheek-PalmBack RoundVert OpenA@NearJaw-PalmBack
Amharic: ቆንጆ (am) (qonjo)
Arabic: جميل (ar) (jamiil)
Moroccan Arabic: زوين (zwin) m
Armenian: գեղեցիկ (hy) (geġec'ik) , սիրուն (hy) (sirun)
Azeri: qəşəng (az)
Cyrillic: гәшәнҝ (az)
Belarusian: выдатны (be) (vydátny)
Bengali: সুন্দর (bn) (sundôr)
Breton: brav, kaer
Bulgarian: красив (bg) (krasív) , прекрасен (bg) (prekrásen)
Catalan: bell, formós, bonic (ca) m, bonica (ca) f
Chamicuro: pya'c̈homa, pewa puti'na
Chinese:
Mandarin: 漂亮 (cmn) (piàoliang), 美 (cmn) (měi), 好看 (cmn) (hǎokàn)
Czech: krásný (cs), pěkný (cs)
Dalmatian: bial
Danish: smuk (da)
Dutch: mooi (nl), schoon (nl)
Egyptian: nfr
Esperanto: bela (eo)
Estonian: kaunis (et), ilus (et)
Faroese: vakur (fo) m, vøkur (fo) f vakurt (fo) n
Fijian: totoka
Filipino: maganda
Finnish: kaunis (fi)
French: beau (fr) m, belle (fr) f
Georgian: მშვენიერი (ka) (mšvenieri) , ლამაზი (ka) (lamazi)
German: schön (de)
Greek: ωραίος (el) m (oraíos) (oraíos), όμορφος (el) m (ómorfos) (ómorfos)
Hebrew: יָפֶה (he) (yafé) m, יָפָה (he) (yafá) f
Hindi: ख़ूबसूरत (hi) (xūbsūrat), सुन्दर (hi) (sundar)
Hungarian: szép (hu), gyönyörű (hu)
Icelandic: fallegur (is), fagur (is)
Ido: bela (io)
Indonesian: indah, cantik, ayu, molek, cakep
Interlingua: belle (ia)
Irish: álainn (ga), spéiriúil (ga)
Italian: bello (it)
Japanese: 美しい (ja) (うつくしい, utsukushii), 綺麗 (ja), きれい (ja) (kirei), 素敵 (ja) (すてき, suteki)
Jèrriais: bieau m, belle f
Khmer: ស្អាត (saāt), ល្អ (km) (l'ɑɑ)
Korean: (attributive) 아름다운 (ko) (areumdaun), (predicative) 아름답다 (ko) (areumdapda)
Kurdish:
Sorani: جوان, ئێسک سووک

Kyrgyz: сулуу (ky) (suluu), көркөм (ky) (körköm), кооз (ky) (kooz), сонун (ky) (sonun), чырайлуу (ky) (çırayluu), чырай жүздүү (ky) (çıray cüzdüü), сулуу (ky) (suluu), укмуштай (ky) (ukmuştay), укмуштай (ky) (ukmuştay), ажайып (ky) (acayıp), көйүткөн (ky) (köyütkön)
Lao: ງາມ (lo) (ngaam)
Latin: pulcher (la), formosus (la) m, bellus (la) m
Latvian: skaists (lv), daiļš (lv), glīts (lv)
Limburgish: sjoen (li)
Lithuanian: gražus (lt)
Lojban: melbi (jbo)
Low German: schöön (nds), scheun (nds)
Macedonian: убав (mk) (úbav), прекрасен (mk) (prékrasen)
Malay: cantik (ms), indah (ms), molek (ms)
Mazanderani: قشنگ, خجیر
Navajo: nizhóní
Novial: beli
Old Church Slavonic: красьнъ (krasĭnŭ)
Old English: wlitig (ang)
Old Norse: fagr
Old Provençal: bel
Persian: زیبا (fa) (zibâ), قشنگ (fa) (qašang)
Polish: piękny (pl)
Portuguese: belo (pt) m, bela (pt) f, bonito (pt) m, bonita (pt) f
Punjabi: ਸੁਹਣਾ (suhṇā) m, ਸੁਹਣੀ (suhṇī) f
Romanian: frumos (ro) m and n, frumoasă (ro) f
Russian: красивый (ru) (krasívyj) , прекрасный (ru) (prekrásnyj)
Sanskrit: सुन्दर (sa) (sundara), सुरूप (sa) (surūpa)
Scottish Gaelic: àlainn, bòidheach, brèagha, fèilleil, grinn, maiseach, rìomhach, sgèimheach
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: леп (sh), лијеп (sh)

Roman: lep (sh), lijep (sh)
Sinhalese: ලස්සන (si) (lassənə), සුන්දර (si) (sundərə)
Slovak: krásny (sk), pekný (sk)
Slovene: lep (sl)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: rědny
Spanish: hermoso (es), bello (es), lindo (es), guapo (es), bonito (es)
Swahili: zuri (sw)
Swedish: fin (sv), vacker (sv)
Tagalog: maganda (tl)
Tajik: зебо (tg) (zebo)
Tamil: அழகிய (azhagiya)
Telugu: అందమైన
Thai: สุนทร (th) (sŭnton), สวย (th) (sŭay), งาม (th) (ngaam)
Tswana: -ntle (tn)
Turkish: güzel (tr)
Ukrainian: вродливий (uk) (vrodlývyj) , красивий (uk) (krasývyj)
Urdu: خوبصورت (ur) (xūbsūrat), سندر (ur) (sundar)
Vietnamese: đẹp đẽ (vi), tốt (vi), tốt đẹp (vi), đẹp (vi), xinh đẹp (vi)
Volapük: jönik (vo), (augmentative) lejönik (vo)
Walloon: bea (wa) m
Welsh: hardd (cy), prydferth (cy)
West Frisian: moai, kreas