Beauty (also called prettiness, loveliness or comeliness) is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.
The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily determined, that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes.
The classical Greek noun for "beauty" was κάλλος, kallos, and the adjective for "beautiful" was καλός, kalos. The Koine Greek word for beautiful was ὡραῖος, hōraios, an adjective etymologically coming from the word ὥρα, hōra, meaning "hour". In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour". Thus, a ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, hōraios had many meanings, including "youthful" and "ripe old age".
Read more about Beauty: Historical View of Beauty, Human Beauty, Effects On Society, Ugliness
Famous quotes containing the word beauty:
“Wasnt marriage, like life, unstimulating and unprofitable and somewhat empty when too well ordered and protected and guarded. Wasnt it finer, more splendid, more nourishing, when it was, like life itself, a mixture of the sordid and the magnificent; of mud and stars; of earth and flowers; of love and hate and laughter and tears and ugliness and beauty and hurt?”
—Edna Ferber (18871968)
“But beauty vanishes; beauty passes;
However rarerare it be;
And when I crumble, who will remember
This lady of the West Country?”
—Walter De La Mare (18731956)
“Look at your lake, Christine. Youll love it here, when you get used to the dark. And youll love the dark, too. Its friendly. And peaceful. It brings rest and relief from pain. Its right under the Opera. The music comes down and the darkness distills it, cleanses it of the suffering that made it, then its all beauty and life here is like a resurrection.”
—Eric Taylor, and Leroux. Arthur Lubin. Erique Claudin (Claude Rains)