different between cute vs smart

English

Etymology

Aphetic form of acute, originally “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). Meaning transferred to “pretty, fetching” by US students (slang) c.1834. Meaning drifted further to describe the pleasing attraction to features usually possessed by the young.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kju?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Adjective

cute (comparative cuter, superlative cutest)

1. Possessing physical features, behaviors, personality traits or other properties that are mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals; e.g. fair, dainty, round, and soft physical features, disproportionately large eyes and head, playfulness, fragility, helplessness, curiosity or shyness, innocence, affectionate behavior.

2. Generally, attractive or pleasing, especially in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way.

3. Sexually attractive or pleasing; gorgeous.
4. Affected or contrived to charm; mincingly clever; precious; cutesy.

5. Mentally keen or discerning (See also acute)

   Synonyms: clever, shrewd

   • ca. 1850. Anonymous, "Turpin Hero" (broadside ballad, probably originally dating to 18th century)

     Then Turpin being so very cute,

     He hid his money in his boot.

6. (especially mathematics) Evincing cleverness; surprising in its elegance or unconventionality (but of limited importance).

Usage notes

Though all the above usages are understood outside US & Canada, they are rarely used spontaneously except to characterise or parody American usage.

Synonyms

• (having features mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals): endearing
• (attractive or pleasing in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way): pretty

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Dutch: kjoet

Translations

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cute.

Adjective

cute

1. (youthful) cute, adorable
   • 2010, Kirsten Sonne Harild, Pony & Co. 4 - Lises forvandling, Gyldendal A/S (?ISBN)

     „De er sådan lidt tegneserieagtige, ikke? Ligesom shetlændere. Cute.

   • 2010, Jesper Staunstrup, At være fremmed..., BoD – Books on Demand (?ISBN), page 187

     Dyret er altså bare ikke cute... Det er en stor rottelignende dræber, der er altædende.

2. (youthful) sweet, attractive (of a person, especially a prospective partner)
   • 2012, Hanne-Vibeke Holst, Hjertets renhed, Gyldendal A/S (?ISBN)

     Han er cute. Frederik var rimelig cute.

   • 2014, Ina Bruhn, Maja og Dancer: Hestene på Ponygården 3, Rosinante & Co (?ISBN)

     Han hedder Elvin. Er det ikke et totalt cute navn?

   • 2014, Dennis Jürgensen, Hår(d), Tellerup A/S (?ISBN)

     Hun var cute, det var hun faktisk, og jeg prøvede desperat ikke at tænke på min isse.

   • 2013, Anders Haahr Rasmussen, Modellen: #dayinthelife, Art People (?ISBN)

     Josephine Skriver har tidligere haft problemer med sit runde, cute ansigt og har det for så vidt stadigvæk.

Synonyms

• (adorable): nuttet, kær

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cutis.

Noun

cute f (plural cuti)

1. (anatomy) Cutis, skin (of a person)

   Synonym: pelle

Derived terms

• cutaneo

Latin

Noun

cute

1. ablative singular of cutis

Middle English

Noun

cute

1. Alternative form of cote (“coot”)

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin c?tem, accusative of c?s. The expected result would have been *coate in Romanian, but may have been influenced by cu?it and ascu?i.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ku.te/
• Rhymes: -ute
• Hyphenation: cu?te

Noun

cute f (plural cute)

1. whetstone

Synonyms

• gresie

References

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sm??t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sm??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Etymology 1

From Middle English smerten, from Old English smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-Germanic *smertan? (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.

Verb

smart (third-person singular simple present smarts, present participle smarting, simple past smarted or (obsolete) smort, past participle smarted or (obsolete) smorten)

1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."

2. (transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
   • a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith's Encouragement

     A goad that […] smarts the flesh.

3. (intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
   • He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it.

Derived terms

• arsesmart
• besmart
• nosesmart
• smartful
• smarting
• smartweed

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English smerte, smert, smarte, smart, from Old English smeart (“smarting, smart, painful”), from Proto-Germanic *smartaz (“hurting, aching”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert (“painful, smart”), Old Frisian smert (“sharp, painful”).

Adjective

smart (comparative smarter or more smart, superlative smartest or most smart)

1. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.

   Synonyms: bright, capable, sophisticated, witty

   Antonyms: backward, banal, boorish, dull, inept

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 19

     I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.

2. (informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.

   Synonyms: cultivated, educated, learned; see also Thesaurus:learned

   Antonyms: ignorant, uncultivated, simple

3. (often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).

4. Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.

   Synonyms: attractive, chic, dapper, stylish, handsome

   Antonyms: garish, outré, tacky

5. Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.

   Synonym: silly

   • 1728, Edward Young, Satire

     Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?

   • I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply

6. Sudden and intense.
   • 1860 July 9, Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, from Thoreau's bird-lore, Francis H. Allen (editor), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, 1910), Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press, (Boston, 1993), page 239:

     There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident.

7. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
8. Sharp; keen; poignant.

9. (Southern US, dated) Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.

10. (archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.

    • The stars shine smarter.

11. (archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.

12. (archaic) Brisk; fresh.

Related terms

Descendants

• ? German: smart

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English smerte, from smerten (“to smart”). See above. Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smart, Low German smart, German Schmerz, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta. More above.

Noun

smart (plural smarts)

1. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
   • 1567, Arthur Golding (translator), The XV Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, London: William Seres, Book , p. 51,^[2]

     […] the bodie had no smart

     Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings.

   • 1716, Alexander Pope (translator), The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintot, Volume 2, Book 5, lines 176-178, p. 25,^[3]

     If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart

     The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart,

     He foams, he roars […]

   • 1871, Louisa May Alcott, Little Men, Chapter 12,^[4]

     Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […]

   • 1948, Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter, London: Heinemann, Book One, Part One, Chapter 1, section 8, p. 42,^[5]

     The smart of his wounded hand woke Scobie at two in the morning.

2. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 7, p. 101,^[6]

     Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete,

     And counsell mitigates the greatest smart;

     Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart.

   • 1673, John Milton, “Anno aetatis 17. On the Death of a fair Infant dying of a Cough” in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions Both English and Latin, London: Thomas Dring, p. 20,^[7]

     But oh why didst thou not stay here below

     To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […]

     To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart

     But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Chapter 8,^[8]

     I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes.

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, London: Picador, Chapter 9, p. 250,^[9]

     […] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.

3. Smart-money.
4. (slang, dated) A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
   • 1742, Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews, London: A. Millar, 3rd edition, 1743, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 3, p. 27,^[10]

     […] I resolved to quit all further Conversation with Beaus and Smarts of every kind […]

Derived terms

• smartful

Anagrams

• MSTAR, marts, stram, tarms, trams

Danish

Etymology

From English smart

Adjective

smart (neuter smart, plural and definite singular attributive smarte, comparative smartere, superlative (predicative) smartest, superlative (attributive) smarteste)

1. (of a solution, contraption, plan etc.) well thought-out, neat
2. snazzy, fashionable, dapper

Derived terms

• oversmart

Dutch

Alternative forms

• smert (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch smarte, from Proto-Germanic *smertan?. Cf. German Schmerz, English smart.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sm?rt/
• Hyphenation: smart
• Rhymes: -?rt

Noun

smart f (plural smarten)

1. pain, sorrow, grief

Derived terms

• gedeelde smart is halve smart
• met smart
• smartengeld

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English smart, 19th c.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sma???t/, /sma?t/

Adjective

smart (comparative smarter, superlative am smartesten)

1. smart (exhibiting social ability or cleverness)

   Synonyms: aufgeweckt, clever, gewitzt, pfiffig
2. smart (good-looking, well-dressed)

   Synonyms: chic, elegant, fein

Further reading

• “smart” in Duden online

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English smart

Adjective

smart (neuter singular smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartere, indefinite superlative smartest, definite superlative smarteste)

1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
2. smart

Derived terms

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

References

• “smart” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English smart

Adjective

smart (neuter singular smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartare, indefinite superlative smartast, definite superlative smartaste)

1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
2. smart

Derived terms

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

References

• “smart” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Spanish

Adjective

smart (invariable)

1. smart (with smart technology)

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English smart.

Pronunciation

Adjective

smart (comparative smartare, superlative smartast)

1. smart; clever

Declension

Anagrams

• tarms, trams