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hübsch

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German hübesch (courtly), from the root of modern Hof (court). Cognate with Yiddish היפּש (hipsh).

The term was probably borrowed into written Middle High German from Middle Dutch hovesch via West Central German, in which process the Central German -v- was hypercorrectly replaced with -b-. The somewhat younger Middle High German hövesch, in line with hof (court), led to modern höfisch (courtly). For the semantic and phonetic development of this complex compare also Dutch hoofs (courtly) and heus (polite; genuine), Ripuarian Central Franconian höösch (careful, slow).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /hʏpʃ/
  • Audio:(file)

Adjective

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hübsch (strong nominative masculine singular hübscher, comparative hübscher, superlative am hübschesten)

  1. pretty, handsome
  2. lovely, nice; great
    Das wäre doch hübsch, wenn…
    It would be great if…
    • 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, erster Teil, Prolog in Himmel:
      Es iſt gar huͤbſch von einem großen Herrn / So menſchlich mit dem Teufel ſelbſt zu ſprechen.
      It's very good of such a great lord to speak man-to-man like this with the Devil.

Declension

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • hübsch” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • hübsch” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • hübsch” in Duden online