quaint
Use Quaint in a sentence
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.
3.
skillfully or cleverly made.
4.
Obsolete. wise; skilled.
Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English queinte < Old French, variant of cointe clever, pleasing ≪ Latin cognitus known (past participle of cognōscere; see cognition)
1175–1225; Middle English queinte < Old French, variant of cointe clever, pleasing ≪ Latin cognitus known (past participle of cognōscere; see cognition)
Related forms
quaint·ly, adverb
quaint·ness, noun
Synonyms
1. antiquated, archaic. 2. curious, uncommon.
1. antiquated, archaic. 2. curious, uncommon.
Antonyms
2. ordinary.
2. ordinary.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To quaint
00:10
Quaint
is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
quaint (kweɪnt) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | attractively unusual, esp in an old-fashioned style: a quaint village |
| 2. | odd, peculiar, or inappropriate: a quaint sense of duty |
| [C13 (in the sense: clever): from Old French cointe, from Latin cognitus known, from cognoscere to ascertain] | |
| 'quaintly | |
| —adv | |
| 'quaintness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
quaint
early 13c., "cunning, proud, ingenious," from O.Fr. cointe "pretty, clever, knowing," from L. cognitus "known," pp. of cognoscere "get or come to know well" (see cognizance). Sense of "old-fashioned but charming" is first attested 1795, and could describe the word itself,
which had become rare after c.1700 (though it soon recovered popularity in this secondary sense). Chaucer used quaint and queynte as spellings of cunt in "Canterbury Tales" (c.1386), and Andrew Marvell may be punning on it similarly in "To His Coy Mistress" (1650).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Others were quaint: he devised a clock based on the opening and closing times of various flowers.
Mostly, though, such political solutions seem quaint: all this bellyaching about authenticity and lost soul.
Newly arrived in a quaint mountain village, Emma longs for friends to play with.
Yahoo began with a quaint notion that the web could be catalogued.
Related Searches
Nearby Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
