In this, my penultimate post, I’d like to take a pleasant detour into the roots of a bit of slang: “cutie.”

A “cutie,” is, of course, “a cute person, especially an attractive young woman,” as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) puts it.

It first appears in modern written English in the late 1760s, but there appears a rather long gap until it begins to show up in any significant usage again, namely, not until the early 1900s.

Originally, someone who is “cute” (and thus a “cutie”) was clever and quick-witted, or, in other words (so to speak) “acute,” which is quite appropriate, as it comes from the Latin “actus,” from “acure,” meaning, “to  sharpen.”

The OED is also quick to remind us that “cute” can be applied to persons or things that are “charming” or “attractive in a mannered way.”

A “cutie-pie,” incidentally, is a sugary embellishment of “cutie” (think “sweetie” or “sweetie-pie”) that was first used in English in a story from Jan. 11, 1920, as found in The Washington Post, with this line: “This cat … was named ‘Kutipi,’ pronounced ‘Cutie Pie.’”

I do hope that was appropriately cute, or acutely cute, as it were. With one more Daily post to go, if you have any word questions or ideas, please send me a note at features@dailyuw.com.

Also note that I’ll be updating you all with my next blog address in my last post, which will appear Wednesday (or I'll at least be able to update the post that will update you - basically, stay posted, haha ... ah, yeah).