beauty (English)
Where does "beauty" come from?
The word beauty traces back to the Latin term 'bellus', meaning 'fine' or 'pretty', which originally began as a diminutive of the word for 'good'. It evolved through Vulgar Latin into the Old French 'beauté' before entering Middle English via Anglo-Norman. Over time, this elegant borrowing largely replaced the native Old English word 'fairness' to describe physical and aesthetic excellence.
Full etymology tree
- beauty (English), 'Of high quality, well done.'
- inherited from beaute (Middle English), 'The quality of being physically appealing; attractiveness, prettiness.'
- borrowed from beauté (Old French), 'alternative form of biauté'
- inherited from *bellitātem (Latin), 'beauty'
- compound of bellus (Latin), 'beautiful, pretty, handsome'
- inherited from *duenelos (Old Latin)
- derived from duonus (Latin), 'good'
- inherited from duenos (Latin), 'alternative form of duonus'
- inherited from *dwenos (Proto-Italic), 'good'
- inherited from duenos (Latin), 'alternative form of duonus'
- derived from duonus (Latin), 'good'
- inherited from *duenelos (Old Latin)
- suffix -itātem (Latin), 'accusative singular of -itās'
- compound of bellus (Latin), 'beautiful, pretty, handsome'
- inherited from *bellitātem (Latin), 'beauty'
- borrowed from beauté (Old French), 'alternative form of biauté'
- inherited from beaute (Middle English), 'The quality of being physically appealing; attractiveness, prettiness.'
Direct ancestors
Updated April 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris