pulchritude

Pulchritude means physical beauty or attractiveness.

Pulchritude is a fancy (and outdated) way of talking about how someone or something is good-looking. It’s quite rare and, for that reason, usually used for humorous effect.

The adjective form of pulchritude is pulchritudinous, meaning beautiful.

Example: The makeup artist kept talking about the pulchritude of my epidermis, which I guess means I have nice skin.

The first records of pulchritude in English come from around the 1400s. It comes from the Latin word pulchritūdō, meaning “beauty.” The adjective pulchritudinous began to appear in the early 1700s and gained popularity in the 1800s with American authors who started using the word because it was humorously long and overly complicated.

Pulchritude doesn’t sound like it means “beauty,” and that’s usually precisely why it’s used—to be ironic, facetious, or just silly. Because there are many more common words that could be used instead, pulchritude is a word most people either don’t know or avoid using so as not to cause confusion. But if you want to get fancy or a bit cheeky, pulchritude is a beautiful choice. The adjective form pulchritudinous is perhaps more common, though still uncommon in general.

What are some other forms related to pulchritude? 

• pulchritudinous (adjective)

What are some synonyms for pulchritude?

• beauty
• attractiveness
• comeliness

What are some words that share a root or word element with pulchritude? 

• altitude
• attitude
• sanctitude

What are some words that often get used in discussing pulchritude?

• beautiful
• alluring
• attractive
• comely
• gorgeous

Because it’s clunky and relatively obscure, pulchritude isn’t often used in everyday conversation. When it is used, it’s most likely for humorous effect—or because someone is raiding the thesaurus for synonyms for beauty.

Pulchritude – an ugly word that means "beauty." Makes no sense.

— Angel Eyes (@AngelEyesNYC) May 26, 2020

Joyous silhouetted starlings dance off into the rich pulchritude of a Brighton sunset – from @BrightonPier #Brighton pic.twitter.com/8JnUxDFxQi

— Brighton Beauty (@MagicBrighton) May 18, 2016

TAMI is thrilled to announce that the earliest color footage of #Galveston's International Pageant of Pulchritude, and one of the oldest extant color films of Texas, is now available to watch on our website: https://t.co/1uht8QMuZG pic.twitter.com/giURDIsH5R

— TAMI (@texasarchive) May 15, 2020

Is pulchritude used correctly in the following sentence?

Her pulchritude is unmatched, her beauty known throughout the kingdom.