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quaint - 4 dictionary results
quaint
[kweynt] 
–adjective, -er, -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; ME queinte < OF, var. of cointe clever, pleasing ≪ L cognitus known (ptp. of cognōscere; see cognition )
1175–1225; ME queinte < OF, var. of cointe clever, pleasing ≪ L cognitus known (ptp. of cognōscere; see cognition )
Related forms:
quaintly, adverb
quaintness, 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. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To quaint
| quaint (kwānt) adj. quaint·er, quaint·est
[Middle English, clever, cunning, peculiar, from Old French queinte, cointe, from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognōscere, to learn; see cognition.] quaint'ly adv., quaint'ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Quaint
Quaint\, a. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con + noscere (for gnoscere) to know. See Know, and cf. Acquaint, Cognition.]1. Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [Obs.] Clerks be full subtle and full quaint. --Chaucer. 2. Characterized by ingenuity or art; finely fashioned; skillfully wrought; elegant; graceful; nice; neat. [Archaic] " The queynte ring." " His queynte spear." --Chaucer. " A shepherd young quaint." --Chapman. Every look was coy and wondrous quaint. --Spenser. To show bow quaint an orator you are. --Shak. 3. Curious and fanciful; affected; odd; whimsical; antique; archaic; singular; unusual; as, quaint architecture; a quaint expression. Some stroke of quaint yet simple pleasantry. --Macaulay. An old, long-faced, long-bodied servant in quaint livery. --W. Irving. Syn: Quaint, Odd, Antique. Usage: Antique is applied to that which has come down from the ancients, or which is made to imitate some ancient work of art. Odd implies disharmony, incongruity, or unevenness. An odd thing or person is an exception to general rules of calculation and procedure, or expectation and common experience. In the current use of quaint, the two ideas of odd and antique are combined, and the word is commonly applied to that which is pleasing by reason of both these qualities. Thus, we speak of the quaint architecture of many old buildings in London; or a quaint expression, uniting at once the antique and the fanciful.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : quaint
Spanish:
raro, singular; pintoresco,
German:
wunderlich,
Japanese:
風変わりな
quaint
c.1225, "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" (1386), and Andrew Marvell may be punning on it similarly in "To His Coy Mistress" (1650).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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