quaint - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English queynte, quoynte, from Anglo-Norman cointe, queinte and Old French cointe (“pretty, clever, knowing”), from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognōscō (“to know”).

• (UK, US) enPR: kwānt, IPA(key): /kweɪnt/, [kʰweɪ̯nt]
• Rhymes: -eɪnt

quaint (comparative quainter, superlative quaintest)

1. (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty. [13th–19th c.]
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
     But you, my Lord, were glad to be imploy'd, / To shew how queint an Orator you are.
2. (obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived. [14th–19th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
     describe races and games, / Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields, / Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds, / Bases and tinsel trappings […] .
3. (now dialectal) Strange or odd; unusual. [from 14th c.]
   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza XX, page 153:
     Lord Gifford, deep beneath the ground, / Heard Alexander's bugle sound, / And tarried not his garb to change, / But, in his wizard habit strange, / Came forth, a quaint and fearful sight; [...]
   • 1924 November 17, Time:
     What none would dispute though many smiled over was the good-humored, necessary, yet quaint omission of the writer's name from the whole consideration.
4. (obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim. [15th–19th c.]
5. Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm. [from 18th c.]
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
     I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me.
   • 1957, Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus, Allan Jeffrey, “Old Cape Cod”, performed by Patti Page:
     If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air, / Quaint little villages here and there, / You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod.
   • 2011 January 31, Ian Sample, The Guardian:
     The rock is a haven for rare wildlife, a landscape where pretty hedgerows and quaint villages are bordered by a breathtaking, craggy coastline.

• (overly discriminating): See also Thesaurus:fastidious

• quaintish

• quaintlike

• quaintly

• quaintness

• quaintsome

• unquaint

having old-fashioned charm

• Chinese:
  Mandarin: 古色古香的 (gǔsègǔxiāng de)
• Czech: starodávný (cs) m, pitoreskní, starobylý (cs) m
• Dutch: pittoresk (nl)
• Esperanto: pitoreska
• French: pittoresque (fr), vieillot (fr)
• Georgian: მიმზიდველი (mimzidveli)
• German: pittoresk (de) (elevated), malerisch (de)
• Italian: caratteristico (it), pittoresco (it)
• Portuguese: encanto (pt) m
• Russian: старомо́дный (ru) m (staromódnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: staromodan (sh), starinski (sh) m
• Spanish: pintoresco (es)
• Swedish: pittoresk (sv), gammaldags (sv), sällsam (sv), gammalmodig (sv), ovanlig (sv), sirlig (sv)

interestingly strange

• Bulgarian: причудлив (bg) (pričudliv)
• Cornish: koynt
• Czech: kuriózní, pitoreskní, kouzelný (cs) m, bizarní (cs)
• Danish: ejendommelig, kuriøs
• Dutch: merkwaardig (nl),typisch (nl)
• Esperanto: kurioza
• Finnish: erikoinen (fi), outo (fi)
• French: remarquable (fr)
• Georgian: უცნაური (ucnauri), საკვირველი (saḳvirveli)
• German: kurios (de), wunderlich (de), komisch (de) (coll.)
• Italian: curioso (it), bizzarro (it)
• Portuguese: curioso (pt)
• Russian: причудливый (ru) (pričudlivyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: čudan (sh)
• Spanish: curioso (es)
• Swedish: egendomlig (sv), kuriös (sv), märkvärdig (sv), sällsam (sv)

incongruous, inappropriate or illogical

• Bulgarian: ексцентричен (bg) (ekscentričen)
• Czech: nevhodný (cs) m, nepříhodný m, nesourodý m, divný (cs) m, prapodivný (cs) m, prazvláštní (cs)
• Danish: løjerlig
• Dutch: onlogisch (nl), ongepast (nl), onsamenhangend (nl)
• French: incongru (fr), inconvenant (fr), malséant (fr), dissonant (fr)
• Italian: inappropriato (it), vano (it)
• Serbo-Croatian: neprikladan (sh) m
• Swedish: sirlig (sv), sällsam (sv)

quaint (plural quaints)

1. (obsolete or historical) The vulva. [from 14th c.]
   • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, page 9:
     The rest looked on, horrified, as Clarice trussed up her habit and in open view placed her hand within her **queynte**[,] crying, ‘The first house of Sunday belongs to the sun, and the second to Venus.’

• quinta

quaint

1. alternative form of queynte