PRETTY  , a word usually applied in the sense of pleasing in

appearance, without connoting those qualities which are described as beautiful or handsome . In Old English praettig meant tricky, cunning or wily, and is thus used to translate the Latin sagax, aslutus, callidus,in a vocabulary of about roo0 . Praett meant a trick, and this word is seen in many forms in Dutch, cf. the words prettig, sportive, part, trick . A connexion has been suggested with the Greek srpaicTu.6r, irpa-rrecv, to do, make, through Latin practice, practice, performance; but the New English Dictionary rejects these, as also Celtic sources, as unfounded . From " cunning " to skilful, and thence to its use as a term of general appreciation as is so often used by Pepys, the development is easy .