pretty的词源

英文词源

pretty

pretty: [OE] In Old English pretty (or prættig, as it was then) meant ‘clever’ in a bad sense – ‘crafty, cunning’. Not until the 15th century had it passed via ‘clever’, ‘skilfully made’, and ‘fine’ to ‘beautiful’. It was a derivative of prætt ‘trick, wile’, which came from a prehistoric West Germanic *pratt- (source also of Dutch part ‘trick’).

pretty (adj.)

Old English prættig (West Saxon), pretti (Kentish), *prettig (Mercian) "cunning, skillful, artful, wily, astute," from prætt, *prett "a trick, wile, craft," from Proto-Germanic *pratt- (cognates: Old Norse prettr "a trick," prettugr "tricky;" Frisian pret, Middle Dutch perte, Dutch pret "trick, joke," Dutch prettig "sportive, funny," Flemish pertig "brisk, clever"), of unknown origin.

Connection between Old English and Middle English words is uncertain, but if they are the same, meaning had shifted by c. 1400 to "manly, gallant," and later moved via "attractive, skillfully made," to "fine," to "beautiful in a slight way" (mid-15c.). Ironical use from 1530s. For sense evolution, compare nice, silly. Also used of bees (c. 1400). "After the OE. period the word is unknown till the 15th c., when it becomes all at once frequent in various senses, none identical with the OE., though derivable from it" [OED].

Meaning "not a few, considerable" is from late 15c. With a sense of "moderately," qualifying adjectives and adverbs, since 1560s. Pretty please as an emphatic plea is attested from 1902. A pretty penny "lot of money" is first recorded 1768.

pretty (n.)

"a pretty person or thing," 1736, from pretty (adj.).

pretty (v.)

1916, usually with up, from pretty (adj.). Related: Prettied; prettying. Compare prettify.

中文词源

pretty：美丽的，漂亮的，相当好的，颇，相当

来自古英语praettig,狡猾的，精明的，有技巧的，来自Proto-Germanic*prattuz,夸夸其谈，吹牛，拟声词，词源同prate,prattle.后词义褒义化，引申词义相当好的，美丽的，漂亮的，后用于副词颇，相当。词义演变比较prestige.

该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：pretty 词源，pretty 含义。