beautiful

English

Etymology

From Middle English bewteful, beautefull (“attractive to the eye, beautiful”), equivalent to beauty +‎ -ful. 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^(key): [ˈbjuːtɪfəɫ]
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈbjut̬ɪfəɫ/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
Hyphenation: beau‧ti‧ful

Adjective

beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)

Attractive and possessing beauty.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess‎:
  It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.
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.

Usage notes

The term carries a distinctly feminine aspect and is mostly not applied to men (in which case handsome is more appropriate and de rigueur).
The comparatives beautifuler and beautifuller, and the superlatives beautifulest and beautifullest have also occasionally been used, but are nonstandard.

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 Thesaurus: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 Thesaurus:beautiful woman

Translations

possessing charm and attractive

Afrikaans: mooi (af)
Albanian: i bukur (sq)
American Sign Language: 5@NearCheek-PalmBack RoundVert OpenA@NearJaw-PalmBack
Amharic: ቆንጆ (ḳonǧo)
Arabic: جَمِيل‎‎ (jamīl)
Moroccan Arabic: زوين‎‎ m (zwin)
Armenian: գեղեցիկ (hy) (gełecʿik), սիրուն (hy) (sirun)
Assamese: ধুনীয়া (dhunia) (common), ভাল লগা (bhal loga), সুন্দৰ (xundor)
Asturian: guapu m, guapa f, formosu m, formosa f
Azerbaijani: qəşəng (az)
Cyrillic: гәшәнҝ
Bashkir: матур (matur)
Belarusian: выда́тны (vydátny), прыго́жы m (pryhóžy)
Bengali: সুন্দর (śundôr)
Breton: brav (br), kaer (br)
Bulgarian: краси́в (bg) (krasív), прекра́сен (bg) (prekrásen)
Burmese: လှသော (hla.sau:), လှပ (my) (hla.pa.)
Catalan: bell (ca) m, bella (ca) f, formós (ca) m, formósa f, bonic (ca) m, bonica (ca) f
Chamicuro: pya'c̈homa, pewa puti'na
Chinese:
Cantonese: 靚, 靓 (leng³), 好睇 (hou² tai²) (object), 漂亮 (piu³ loeng⁶) (formal), 美麗, 美丽 (mei⁵ lai⁶) (formal)

Mandarin: 漂亮 (zh) (piàoliang), 美 (zh) (měi), 好看 (zh) (hǎokàn), 美麗 (zh), 美丽 (zh) (měilì)

Min Nan: 媠 (zh-min-nan) (súi), 美麗 (zh-min-nan), 美丽 (bí-lē), 好看 (hó-khòaⁿ), 媠噹噹 (zh-min-nan), 媠当当 (súi-tang-tang)

Teochew: 雅 (ngia2)
Coptic: please add this translation if you can
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), penur, fagur
Fijian: totoka
Finnish: kaunis (fi)
French: beau (fr) m, belle (fr) f
Friulian: biel m, biele f
Georgian: მშვენიერი (mšvenieri), ლამაზი (lamazi), ტურფა (ṭurpa), საუცხოო (saucxoo), საყვარელი (saq̇vareli), მომხიბლავი (momxiblavi), მიმზიდველი (mimzidveli), სასიამოვნო (sasiamovno), სანდომიანი (sandomiani), წარმტაცი (c̣armṭaci), თვალწარმტაცი (tvalc̣armṭaci), კოხტა (ḳoxṭa), მოხდენილი (moxdenili), პირმშვენიერი (ṗirmšvenieri)
German: schön (de)
Gothic: 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐌽𐍃 (skauns)
Greek: ωραίος (el) (oraíos), όμορφος (el) (ómorfos)
Ancient: καλός (kalós)
Hebrew: יָפֶה‎‎ (he) m (yafé), יָפָה‎‎ (he) f (yafá)
Hindi: ख़ूबसूरत (xūbsūrat), सुन्दर (hi) (sundar)
Hungarian: szép (hu), gyönyörű (hu)
Icelandic: fallegur (is), fagur (is)
Ido: bela (io)
Indonesian: indah (id), cantik (id), ayu (id), molek (id), cakep (id)
Interlingua: belle
Irish: álainn, spéiriúil
Isan: please add this translation if you can
Istriot: biel m, biela f
Italian: bello (it) m, bella (it) f
Japanese: 美しい (ja) (うつくしい, utsukushii), 綺麗 (きれい, kirei), 素敵 (ja) (すてき, suteki)
Jingpho: tsawm
Kalmyk: please add this translation if you can
Kazakh: әдемі (kk) (ädemi), әсем (äsem)
Khanty: хурамӑӈ (xuramăň) (Kazym)
Khmer: ស្អាត (km) (sʾaat), ល្អ (km) (lʾɑɑ)
Korean: 아름답다 (ko) (areumdapda), 아름다운 (ko) (areumdaun) (determiner)
Kurdish:
Sorani: جوان‎‎ (ku), 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 (ngām)
Latin: pulcher, formosus m, bellus (la) m
Latvian: skaists, daiļš, glīts

Limburgish: sjoen
Lithuanian: gražus (lt)
Low German: schöön (nds), scheun
Lü: ᦇᦱᧄ (ngaam)
Macedonian: убав (ubav), прекрасен (prekrasen)
Malay: cantik, indah, molek
Mazanderani: قشنگ‎‎, خجیر‎‎
Mongolian: сайхан (mn) (sajhan), гуа (mn) (gua)
Navajo: nizhóní, nizhóní yeeʼ
Norman: bieau m, belle f
Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
Novial: beli
Occitan: bèl (oc) m, bèla (oc) f, bèu (oc) m
Okinawan: 清らさん, 美らさん (ちゅらさん, churasan)
Old Church Slavonic: красьнъ (krasĭnŭ)
Old English: wlitig, fæger, freawlitig, gebleod, hleortorht, sciene, hiwbeorht, torht, freolic, smicer, wliteful, wlitescine, cyme, cymlic
Old Norse: fagr
Old Occitan: bel
Pashto: ښکلی‎‎ (ps) (ẍkwëlay)
Persian: زیبا‎‎ (fa) (zibâ), قشنگ‎‎ (fa) (qašang)
Polish: piękny (pl)
Portuguese: belo (pt) m, bela (pt) f, bonito (pt) m, bonita (pt) f, lindo (pt) m, linda (pt) f
Punjabi: ਸੁਹਣਾ m (suhṇā), ਸੁਹਣੀ f (suhṇī)
Quechua: sumaq (qu), şumag, k'acha
Romanian: frumos (ro) m, n, frumoasă (ro) f
Romansch: bel m, bella f, bi m, biala f
Russian: краси́вый (ru) (krasívyj), прекра́сный (ru) (prekrásnyj), приго́жий (ru) (prigóžij) (folklore, poetic), ле́пый (ru) (lépyj) (archaic)
Sanskrit: सुन्दर (sa) (sundara), सुरूप (sa) (surūpa)
Sardinian: bedhu m, bedha f, bellu m, bella f
Scottish Gaelic: àlainn, bòidheach, brèagha, fèilleil, grinn, maiseach, rìomhach, sgèimheach
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: леп, лијеп

Roman: lep (sh), lijep (sh)
Sicilian: beddu (scn) m, bedda (scn) f
Sinhalese: ලස්සන (si) (lassana), සුන්දර (sundara)
Slovak: krásny, pekný
Slovene: lep (sl)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: rědny
Southern Thai: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: hermoso (es) m, hermosa (es) f, bello (es) m, bella (es) f lindo, linda (es) f, guapo (es) m, guapa (es) f, bonito (es) m, bonita (es) f
Swahili: zuri (sw)
Swedish: fin (sv), vacker (sv)
Sylheti: ꠡꠥꠘ꠆ꠖꠞ (śundor)
Tagalog: maganda (tl)
Tajik: зебо (tg) (zebo), хушрӯ (xušrü)
Tamil: அழகிய (ta) (aḻakiya)
Tatar: матур (matur), гүзәл (güzäl)
Telugu: అందమైన (te) (andamaina), చక్కని (te) (cakkani)
Thai: สุนทร (sǔn-tɔɔn), สวย (th) (sǔai), งาม (th) (ngaam)
Tswana: -ntle
Turkish: güzel (tr)
Turkmen: görmegeý, gözel, gelşikli
Ukrainian: вродли́вий (vrodlývyj), краси́вий (uk) (krasývyj), га́рний (uk) (hárnyj)
Urdu: خوبصورت‎‎ (xūbsūrat), سندر‎‎ (sundar)
Uyghur: گۈزەل‎‎ (güzel)
Uzbek: yoqimli (uz), goʻzal (uz)
Venetian: beło m, beła f
Vietnamese: đẹp (vi), xinh đẹp (vi)
Volapük: jönik (vo), (augmentative) lejönik (vo)
Walloon: bea (wa) m, bele (wa) f
Welsh: hardd (cy), prydferth (cy)
West Frisian: moai, kreas
Westrobothnian: skönat, vakker
Yiddish: שיין‎‎ (sheyn)
Zhuang: baenzsau, gacae, giengh

of weather: pleasant, clear

Armenian: հաճելի (hy) (hačeli)
Bulgarian: хубав (bg) (hubav)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 靚, 靓 (leng³), 好天 (hou² tin¹)

Mandarin: 好天 (zh) (hǎotiān)

Min Nan: 好天 (zh-min-nan) (hó-thiⁿ)
Dutch: mooi (nl)
Finnish: kaunis (fi)
French: beau (fr) m
German: heiter (de), schön (de)
Hebrew: נאה‎‎ (na'e)
Hungarian: szép (hu)

Italian: (before "tempo") ^{(please verify)} bel, (after "tempo") ^{(please verify)} bello
Kurdish:
Sorani: خۆش‎‎ (ku), فێنک‎‎ (ku)
Limburgish: sjoen
Macedonian: убаво n (ubavo)
Malay: indah
Portuguese: limpo (pt)
Spanish: bueno (es), despejado (es), alegre (es)
Swedish: fint (sv) n, vackert (sv) n
Tamil: அழகிய (ta) (aḻakiya)
Telugu: ఆహ్లాదకరమైన (āhlādakaramaina)

well executed

Finnish: kaunis (fi), loistava (fi)
Hungarian: szép (hu)
Macedonian: убав (ubav)

Norwegian:
Bokmål: nydelig (no), enestående

Nynorsk: nydeleg, eneståande

as a pro-sentence

German: toll (de)
Malay: cantik

Spanish: bravo (es)

ironic: how unfortunate

Finnish: loistava (fi)
German: toll (de), schön (de)
Hungarian: szép (hu)

Macedonian: убав (ubav)
Malay: cantik

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