Ranking cute to beautiful
As native English speakers we all have the fairly same idea about the strength of words like cute, sexy, lovely, pretty, beautiful, gorgeous, girl next door, etc. when describing the female of the species (this is not politically incorrect because women do the same thing with us guys).
I have never figured out in spanish just how to rank the various words, heck I probably dont even know them all (but I do know some that cant be listed here as well)
So first let's gather a list of words in english and spanish and then rank them from Cute to drop dead georgeous and then in spanish from linda to bella (or beyond).
In spanish we have linda, bonita, hermosa, bella, bellisima, ¿qué más?
By the way the above list in spanish is how I rank the words and my not be correct.
Give it a shot. Cute = 1, Girl Next Door/Good-looking = 3, Pretty = 5, Lovely = 6, Sexy/Beutiful - 8, Drop dead gorgeous = 10
Please dont flag me I think it is a valid inquiry as to which word is stronger in each language.
9 Answers
Interesting.
Here it goes my personal ranking, for you, guys.
Disclaimer: I said "personal".
Es del montón-1
Es normalito- 2
Es riquiño- 3
No está mal - 4
Es mono- 5
Es atractivo- 6
No está nada mal- 7
Está bueno- 8
Está buenísimo- 9
Ay dios mío, ay dios mío- 10
I am going to approach an answer to this thread in a light-hearted way 
These are some adjectives to describe women's beauty: guapa, guapísima; linda, lindísima; bonita; hermosa; bella, bellísima; preciosa; desampenante.
The following is my attempt to place these adjectives into some order. This, like the list below mentioning names of some famous women is probably highly subjective and will vary accodring to each person. I am not sure if it is really possible to create a definitive list:
bonita = pretty; guapa = attractive, good looking; linda = cute, sweet; hermosa = beautiful, lovely; bella = beautiful; gorgeous = preciosa, guapísima; desampanante = stunning
Wow!I it is very hard to think of some famous girls/women and even more difficult to place them in some order of preference! This will also be very subjective as beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder (viewer):
bonita:
guapa; Jenny Agutter (Film; Logan's run)
linda: Sandra Bullock (Film: While you were sleeping) Alexa Vega; Miranda Otto (Lord of the rings, Charlotte Gainsbourg.
sexy; Michelle Rodriguez (T.V: Lost); Evangeline Lilly (Lost); Shakira; Gemma Arterton.
hermosa: Liv Tyler (Film:The Lord of the Rings)
bella: Amelia Warren (Film: Lorna Doone)
preciosa: La chica en el advertisment por AmoLatina.com 
(enero 2012) Se puede verla aquí en SpanishDict
desampanante:
I will fill in the gaps later
Where does guapa fit in this rank?
It wouldn't surprise me if this was regionally dependent. A Mexican friend told me that bonita is also used towards children. But Wyclef Jean addresses Shakira (Colombian) with it in their duet, probably trying to express 'sexy' (considering the content of the rest of the song). It could also mean that bonita is just a very general word to express physical beauty and that the meaning changes depending on the context and who it is said to.
The Mexican told me that guapa means handsome.
Other than that, I would love to see more answers to this topic.
Where does guapa fit in this rank?
Excellent question that I have no idea how to answer. In fact that is the crux of my question.
I guess I would say guapa is equal to pretty. What do you say?
What about "Canon", is this also used in France ?
I love your question. I've not yet found a real equivalent to 'cute', like 'adorable,' and I look forward to the real Spanish-speaking answers to this question!
Sadly I can do this in French but not yet Spanish -- I guess it takes having a feel for it ... mignonne, précieuse, adorable, jolie, belle, magnifique ....
I,m glad i;m not the only one who needs help with this. I lived in Mexigco for four years and continuallly asked my friends for help with this but all they ever gave me was slang and groserias.
Examples:
Cute: Meg Ryan Girl Next Door: Sandra Bullock Pretty: Tamara Taylor (TV show Bones) Lovely: Young Liz Taylor Sexy: Shakira Beautiful: Penelope Cruz Drop Dead Gorgeous: Nkcole Scherzinger
A mi "guapo" es como "good-looking," entonces es mas general.
I love your question. I've not yet found a real equivalent to 'cute', like 'adorable,' and I look forward to the real Spanish-speaking answers to this question!
Sadly I can do this in French but not yet Spanish -- I guess it takes having a feel for it ... mignonne, précieuse, adorable, jolie, belle, magnifique ....
If you dare, how about some examples? Como descubrir joven Zsa Zsa Gabor? Shakira? Nazanin Afshin-Jam? La voz de Monserrat Caballe?
Perdone mis tildes y marcas faltas.... y mi pareza!
Where does guapa fit in this rank?
