aesthetic [M18th] The early sense was ‘relating to perception by the senses’; the source is Greek aisthētikos, from aisthēta ‘material things’. This was opposed to things that were thinkable, in other words, immaterial things. The sense ‘concerned with beauty’ was coined in German in the mid 18th century, and adopted into English in the early 19th century, but its use was controversial until much later in the century. Aesthete [M19th] was formed on the pattern of pairs such as athlete, athletic.