From Middle English prety, preti, praty, prati, from Old English prættiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *prattug, from Proto-Germanic *prattugaz, corresponding to .

Cognate with Dutch prettig, Low German prettig, Icelandic prettugur. For the semantic development, compare canny, clever, cute.

• (British) IPA: /ˈpɹɪti/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɹɪti/, [ˈpɹɪɾi]
• (America, dialectal) IPA: /ˈpɝti/
• (America, rare) IPA: /ˈpɹʊti/
• (America, dated, or, humorous) IPA: /ˈpɔɪti/

pretty (comparative prettier, superlative prettiest)

1. Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children. [from 15th c.]
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.

2. Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing. [from 15th c.]
3. (often pejorative) Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance; see petty. [from 15th c.]
4. (UK, sometimes, derogatory) Effeminate.
5. Cunning; clever, skilful. [from 9th c.]
6. (dated) Moderately large; considerable. [from 15th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:

     they flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season […].

7. (dated) Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.). [from 16th c.]
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC ↗:

     Some people are surprised, I believe, that that the eldest was not [named after his father], but Isabella would have him named Henry, which I thought very pretty of her.

   • 1919, Saki, ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace:

     ‘This new fashion of introducing the candidate's children into an election contest is a pretty one,’ said Mrs. Panstreppon; ‘it takes away something from the acerbity of party warfare, and it makes an interesting experience for the children to look back on in after years.’

   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The sun also rises, page 251:

     "Oh, Jake." Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together." Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. "Yes", I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

8. (ironic) Awkward, unpleasant, bad. [from 16th c.]
   • 1839, The Cottager's Monthly Visitor, volume 19, page 270:

     "Nay, not I; it is a pretty thing to expect me to wash them; you may take them back again, and say, as Sally had them before, she may wash them now, for me; I am not going to be 'Jack at a pinch,' I can tell you."

   • [1877], Anna Sewell, “Hard Times”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC ↗, part IV, page 235 ↗:

     [A] pretty thing it would be, if a man of business had to examine every cab-horse before he hired it—[…]

   • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

     ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Marjorie Lindon, to even think such nonsense. Are you all nerves and morbid imaginings,—you who have prided yourself on being so strong-minded! A pretty sort you are to do battle for anyone.—Why, they’re only make-believes!’

• ugly

• Spanish: ingenioso, listo

• French: joli
• German: anmutig, attraktiv, charmant, hübsch, nett, niedlich, schön
• Italian: grazioso, carino
• Portuguese: bonito
• Russian: хоро́шенький
• Spanish: guapo, bonito, lindo

• French: joli
• Italian: carino
• Portuguese: bonito, belo
• Spanish: bonito

• Portuguese: bonitinho

pretty (not comparable)

1. Somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.
   • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section V:

     By the Sheets you have sent me to peruse, the Account you have given of her Birth and Parentage is pretty exact [...].

   • 1859 November 23, Charles Darwin, “Variation under Domestication”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC ↗, page 7 ↗:

     It seems pretty clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to the new conditions of life to cause any appreciable amount of variation; […]

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 539:

     The Revolutionary decade was a pretty challenging time for business.

2. (dialect) Prettily, in a pretty manner.

• French: assez, pas mal, plutôt
• German: ziemlich, leidlich, einigermaßen
• Italian: piuttosto, abbastanza, tutto sommato
• Portuguese: meio (somewhat), bem, bastante (fairly)
• Russian: дово́льно
• Spanish: bastante, bien

pretty (plural pretties)

1. A pretty person; a term of address to a pretty person.
   • 1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, The Wizard of Oz:

     I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

2. Something that is pretty.

   We'll stop at the knife store and look at the sharp pretties.

pretty (pretties, present participle prettying; simple past and past participle prettied)

1. To make pretty; to beautify

1. Surname.

From Sanskrit प्रीति.

1. Alternative form of Preeti; A female given name