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.
双语例句
1. The comparative of "pretty" is "prettier".
pretty的比较级形式是prettier。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She's going to be fine. She always was pretty strong.
她会好的。她一直都很强壮。
来自柯林斯例句
3. She was a shy, delicately pretty girl with enormous blue eyes.
她是一个害羞、娇美的女孩，长着一双大大的蓝眼睛。
来自柯林斯例句
4. His new government looks pretty much like the old one.
他的新政府看起来和旧政府没什么两样。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The policeman smiled at her. "Pretty dog."— "Oh well, thank you."
