Meanings
- uncountableA type of aesthetic, music genre, and fashion style that emphasizes cuteness, pastel colors, and childlike imagery or motifs.First known use 1995, gained popularity in 2022
In the alternative rock world, cutecore was a rebellion against the dogmatic noise and macho posturing of hardcore punk.
1995, Newsweek, page 572 more examples
The whole thing is designed in the manner of Douglas Coupland’s Generation X primer, with vox pop inserts, conceptual games and puzzles, cutecore slogans and Internet riffs layering the page.
2002, Beard, Steve, Aftershocks: the end of style culture, Wallflower Press, →ISBN, page 104If Hello Kitty could express alarm at the lifestyles of her American cutecore fans— high out of their minds at all-night raves— her little paws would no doubt fly up to her round cheeks and her mouth—often invisible, never larger than a dot—would expand into a big, Munch-like O.
2004, Schilling, Mark, The encyclopedia of Japanese pop culture, Weathermill, →ISBN, page 223
Origin
From cute + -core (aesthetic).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cutecore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cutecore
“cutecore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cutecore. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cutecore,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cutecore.
Source: cutecore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.