Etymograph

English

pretty

Pretty comes from Old English prættiġ ‘tricky, crafty, sly, cunning, wily, astute’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *prattugaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*prattugaz1‘boastful’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*prattug1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150prættiġ1‘tricky’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prety1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1624pretty1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pretty
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “they flung all the goods in the house out…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*prattugazWiktionary, English pretty‘boastful’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*prattugWiktionary, English prettyreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150prættiġWiktionary, English pretty‘tricky’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pretyWiktionary, English pretty
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1624prettyWiktionary, English pretty. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “they flung all the goods in the house out…”

The story

For the semantic development, compare canny, clever, cute.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

adj Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pretty”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *prattugaz / pretty