прекрасный vs. КРАСИВЫЙ

[ayelienne]

Hi!

I've got a quick question for you all: I've got a russian word a day calendar, and today's word was: прекрасный

I know that КРАСИВЫЙ also means 'beautiful', but I'm not sure what the difference is, and why I would use one over the other - can someone explain?

Thanks! :)

Comments

[yers.livejournal.com]

прекрасный is much stronger than красивый, to the point of being a little affected. basically, красивый implies liking, while прекрасный, fascination. прекрасный can also mean "perfect, extremely favourable" - as in прекрасная погода (perfect weather), прекрасные условия (excellent conditions).

[ayelienne]

great explanation :) Thanks so much!

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

That seems to make sense -- I've been corrected from saying красивая погода to прекрасная погода, since there seems to be more of a "wonderful" connotation.