acutus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of acuō (“sharpen, make sharp”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈkuː.tus/, [äˈkuːt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈku.tus/, [äˈkuːt̪us]

Participle

acūtus (feminine acūta, neuter acūtum, comparative acūtior, superlative acūtissimus); first/second-declension participle

1. sharpened, made sharp, sharp, having been sharpened
2. spicy
3. subtle

   acūta distīnctiō ― a subtle distinction

4. acute
5. astute, wise, sharp-witted
6. having a sharp sound, high-pitched

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	acūtus	acūta	acūtum		acūtī	acūtae	acūta
Genitive	acūtī	acūtae	acūtī		acūtōrum	acūtārum	acūtōrum
Dative	acūtō		acūtō		acūtīs
Accusative	acūtum	acūtam	acūtum		acūtōs	acūtās	acūta
Ablative	acūtō	acūtā	acūtō		acūtīs
Vocative	acūte	acūta	acūtum		acūtī	acūtae	acūta

Derived terms

• accentus acūtus
• acūtulus

Descendants

• Asturian: agudu
• → Dutch: acuut
• Italian: acuto
• → Middle English: acute
  • English: acute
• Old French: agu
  • Middle French: aigu, agu
    • French: aigu
      • → Norwegian Bokmål: aigu
    • → Middle English: agu
      • English: ague
  • Norman: aîdgu (Jersey)
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: agut
  • Occitan: agut
• → Old Irish: acuit
  • Irish: agúid
• Portuguese: agudo
• → Romanian: acut
• Spanish: agudo

References

• “acutus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “acutus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acutus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• acutus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to draw a subtle inference: acute, subtiliter concludere
    
  • a deep, high, thin, moderate voice: vox gravis, acuta, parva, mediocris