Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cute

/kjuːt/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.65 in modern English

Syllables: cute
IPA: /kjuːt/

6

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Possessing physical features, behaviors, personality traits or other properties that are mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals; e.g. fair, dainty, round, and soft physical features, disproportionately large eyes and head, playfulness, fragility, helplessness, curiosity or shyness, innocence, affectionate behavior.

adj

Lovable, charming, attractive or pleasing, especially in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way.

adj

Sexually attractive or pleasing; gorgeous.

adj

Affected or contrived to charm; mincingly clever; precious; cutesy.

adj

Mentally keen or discerning (See also acute)

adj

Evincing cleverness; surprising in its elegance or unconventionality (but of limited importance).

Example Sentences

"Our reaction to cute attributes is understood as the way nature ensures mammals care for their young."
"Let's go to the mall and look for cute girls."
"He's got such cute buns."
"I ordered her to strip for me and made her wiggle her cute little ass as she took off her panties."
"The actor's performance was too cute for me. All that mugging to the audience killed the humor."
"Don't get cute with me, boy!"

Etymology

Aphetic form of acute, originally meaning “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). Meaning transferred to “pretty, fetching” by US students (slang) c. 1834. Meaning drifted further to describe the pleasing attraction to features usually possessed by the young.

Word Breakdown

Root: *h₂eḱ-

Inflected Forms

cuter (comparative) cutest (superlative)

Derived Forms

cuteful cuteish cutely cuten cuteness cutensil cutesome cutester cutesy cutey cutie cutification

Phrases

cute aggression cute and funny cute as a bug in a rug cute as a bug's ear cute as a button cute as a pin cute as a speckled pup cute as corn

Synonyms

clever shrewd having features mainly attributed to infants and small cuddly animals pretty precious cunning

Homonyms

Qt

Rhymes With

shoot suit route fruit root dispute boot pursuit acute recruit salute mute

Questions

How do you pronounce cute?: The recorded pronunciation is /kjuːt/.
What does cute mean?: Possessing physical features, behaviors, personality traits or other properties that are mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals; e.g. fair, dainty, round, and soft physical features, disproportionately large eyes and head, playfulness, fragility, helplessness, curiosity or shyness, innocence, affectionate behavior.
Where does cute come from?: Aphetic form of acute, originally meaning “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). Meaning transferred to “pretty, fetching” by US students (slang) c. 1834. Meaning drifted further to describe the pleasing attraction to features usually possessed by the young.

How to pronounce cute

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cute”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/kjuːt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cute”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cute” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.