To be honest, despite her recent attempts at sexiness, I still don’t think she radiates sex when I look at her but does this mean I’ll pass up a chance at a romp in the sheets with her? Err… Do chickens lay eggs?

As a guy who has quite a few close female friends, I’ve always said that one of the scariest things any of my female friends can say to me is:

“I have this mad hawt friend I want to hook you up with.”

I once tweeted this and I got several re-tweets. Mostly from other guys who share my opinion and several chics who wondered why but later concluded most men are just confused when I tried to explain to them. So what you’re about to read is my attempt at explaining to the women out there, in my opinion, the difference between the three adjectives commonly used to describe them: cute, pretty and sexy.

Sidebar: this post is not intended to cater to the selfish agenda of men. It was written so women can generally understand us better when we…qualify them.

Cute: When I describe a woman as cute, there’s just something youthfully sweet about her. One look at her and an uncontrollable smile grows on your face. She has most likely kept her baby looks deep into adulthood. There might be some facial features that resonate this laid-back, ‘sweet’ aura around her. Dimples. Maybe one, maybe two. Chubby cheeks just begging to be pinched. You can almost picture her with a ponytail, rocking just denims, a t-shit and flats and she’ll still bring it. Cute women are mostly petite or as I like to call them, ‘pocketable‘. However, I also find some near plus-sized women cute too. You know who I think is cute? Lauren London, Drew Barrymore, Jill Scott.

Pretty: This one is commonly misinterpreted. For me, pretty starts and mostly stops with the face. You know, those kind of women you can just look at forever. Perfect skin tone, facial features – lips, nose, eyes, teeth, brows etc- all spot on. There’s really not more to it. Who do I think is pretty? Beyonce, Keri Hilson, Kelly Rowland, Genevieve Nnaji.

Sexy: This should be simple enough: a woman I describe as ‘sexy’ is one who screams ‘Take me to bed NOW‘. Yup. And I bet this one probably goes across for all men. Forget about manners or anything here, this adjective captures our carnal desires. You know that co-worker you’ve once undressed with your eyes? Yup, she’s sexy, why? It can be her eyes, the things she does with her lips, how she sways her hips when she moves etc. However, let me clarify this here: being TOO ENDOWED does not mean being sexy. Yes, I do not find Cossy or Coco remotely sexy. Almost irritable even but that’s just me. Who do I find sexy? Sofia Vegara, Rihanna, Hale Berry, Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, Adriana Lima… you get the idea.

Now, the ultimate question: is it possible for some women to have it all? Hell yeah. But I must say this is where personal preference really comes to play. I’ve come to find that most times when a guy describes a woman with two of the adjectives stated above, the third almost always automatically falls in too. Again, I’ll use myself as an example. Regulars here know about my … erm ‘little’ crush on Keri Hilson. I think she’s pretty and cute too. To be honest, despite her recent attempts at sexiness, I still don’t think she radiates sex when I look at her, but does this mean I’ll pass up a chance at a romp in the sheets with her? Err… Do chickens lay eggs?

So, once again, I’ve put my opinion out there but I’d definitely like to read yours, especially the guys. And once again, it’s not so our female friends can help match-make us better, it’s just something I feel we all should know. For the guys, what’s your definition of pretty, cute and sexy? Please use examples (makes it easy for us to attack you, I mean understand you). And the ladies, what’s your take on all of this? Use the comment box to speak your mind. Cheers.

Editor’s note: Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.