quaint

[ kweynt ]
See synonyms for quaint on Thesaurus.com
adjective,quaint·er, quaint·est.
  1. having an old-fashioned attractiveness or charm; oddly picturesque: a quaint old house.

  2. strange, peculiar, or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way: a quaint sense of humor.

  1. skillfully or cleverly made.

  2. Obsolete. wise; skilled.

Origin of quaint

1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English queinte, from Old French, variant of cointe “clever, pleasing,” from Latin cognitus “learned, known,” past participle of cognōscere “to learn, become acquainted”; see cognition

Other words for quaint

Opposites for quaint

Other words from quaint

  • quaintly, adverb
  • quaintness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use quaint in a sentence

  • Quainter still were the weird pictures hanging on the walls, all of them gifts of pious people.

    Katharine Frensham | Beatrice Harraden
  • When he had stated his mission of "borrowing fire" he had used a quaint phrase, eloquent of a quainter custom.

    A Pagan of the Hills | Charles Neville Buck
  • How will he laugh at the quaint stories and quainter jests of Maurice Quill!

  • A quainter vengeance seems to have sometimes followed the trespass.

    Miscellanea | Juliana Horatia Ewing
  • I know of no quainter literature than is to be found in these very old New York papers.

    Greenwich Village | Anna Alice Chapin

British Dictionary definitions for quaint

quaint

/ (kweɪnt) /


adjective
  1. attractively unusual, esp in an old-fashioned style: a quaint village

  2. odd, peculiar, or inappropriate: a quaint sense of duty

Origin of quaint

1
C13 (in the sense: clever): from Old French cointe, from Latin cognitus known, from cognoscere to ascertain

Derived forms of quaint

  • quaintly, adverb
  • quaintness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012