quaint

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman cointe, queinte et al., Old French cointe (“pretty, clever, knowing”), from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognoscere (“to know”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /kweɪnt/
• Rhymes: -eɪnt

Adjective

quaint (comparative quainter, superlative quaintest)

1. (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty. [13th-19th c.]
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 2:

     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, Paradise Lost, Book IX:

     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, Sir Walter Scott, Marmion XX:

     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, Time, 17 Nov 1924:

     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.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i.5:

     euerie word did tremble as she spake, / And euerie looke was coy, and wondrous quaint [...].

5. Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm. [from 18th c.]
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma:

     I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me.

   • 2011, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 31 Jan 2011:

     The rock is a haven for rare wildlife, a landscape where pretty hedgerows and quaint villages are bordered by a breathtaking, craggy coastline.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:fastidious

Derived terms

• quaintly
• quaintness

Translations

old-fashioned charm

Chinese: Mandarin: 古色古香的 (zh)

Dutch: pittoresk (nl) French: pittoresque (fr) Italian: caratteristico (it), pittoresco (it) Spanish: pintoresco (es) m.

interestingly strange

Danish: ejendommelig (da), kuriøs (da) Dutch: merkwaardig (nl),typisch (nl) French: remarquable (fr)

incongruous, inappropriate or illogical

Danish: løjerlig (da) Dutch: onlogisch (nl), ongepast (nl),onsamenhangend (nl) French: illogique (fr),incovenant (fr),incohérant (fr)

cleverness or ingenuity

Dutch: schranderheid (nl), slimheid (nl) French: intelligence (fr) f.,finesse (fr) f.

fastidious

Dutch: veeleisend (nl), kieskeurig (nl) French: exigeant (fr),délicat (fr)

Noun

quaint (plural quaints)

1. (archaic) The vulva. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale", Canterbury Tales:

     And trewely, as myne housbondes tolde me, / I hadde þe beste queynte þat myghte be.

   • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, p. 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.’