: beau·ty Pronunciation: 'byü-tE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural beauties Etymology: Middle English beaute, from Old French biauté, from bel, biau beautiful, from Latin bellus pretty; akin to Latin bonus good -- more at BOUNTY Date: 14th century 1 : the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : LOVELINESS 2 : a beautiful person or thing; especially : a beautiful woman 3 : a particularly graceful, ornamental, or excellent quality 4 : a brilliant, extreme, or egregious example or instance <that mistake was a beauty> 5 : a quantum characteristic that accounts for the existence and lifetime of the upsilon particle; also : a particle having this characteristic