twee

Etymology

From a childish pronunciation of sweet. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1905 in Punch.

adj

1. (Britain, derogatory) Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.
   Those Beatrix Potter animals are a little twee for my taste.
   Despite the fact that the designs were all a bit twee […] they stood out a mile in the market place at that time. 1999, Janet Foster, Docklands: Urban Change and Conflict in a Community in Transition, London, Philadelphia, Pa.: UCL Press, page 82
   Forget the clichéd image of Brigadoon and shortbread tins, the dreadfully twee tartan tat and Celtic kitsch that, sadly, still exists in the 21st century, and is too often passed off as a genuine Highland experience. 2001, Alan Murphy, Scotland Highlands & Islands Handbook: The Travel Guide, Bath, Somerset: Footprint Handbooks, page 11
   As always with Disney, there are moments when it all seems a bit twee, others when it is excessively PC. 2002, Peter Ellison, Essential Non-fiction, Dublin: Folens Publishers, page 40
   I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying, "I am a duckbilled platypus, and this is how I find my shrimps." I think it would have been twee. 8 September 2005, Stephen S. Hall, quoting Richard Dawkins, “Darwin's Rottweiler: Sir Richard Dawkins: Evolution's fiercest champion, far too fierce”, in Discover, archived from the original on 2016-01-01
   [Neil] Tennant's accent obviously has a lot to do with that, but the fact he's rapping is further masked by his twee, effeminate delivery. 2 June 2015, Kenneth Partridge, “With ‘West End Girls,’ Pet Shop Boys set a high standard for U.K. hip-hop”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2015-09-06