quean
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English quene (“young, robust woman”), from Old English cwene (“woman, female serf”), from Proto-Germanic *kwenǭ (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”). Cognate with Dutch kween (“a barren woman, a barren cow”), Low German quene (“barren cow, heifer”), German Kon (“wife”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Icelandic kona (“woman”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌽𐍉 (qinō, “woman”), 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”). More at queen.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
quean (plural queans)
- (obsolete) A woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute. [from 10th c.]
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970, partition III, section 2, member 1, subsection ii:
- Rahab, that harlot, began to be a professed quean at ten years of age […]
- 1936: Like the Phoenix by Anthony Bertram
- However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie--did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.
- (Scotland) A young woman, a girl; a daughter. [from 15th c.]
- 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 30:
- Forbye the two queans there was the son, John Gordon, as coarse a devil as you'd meet, he'd already had two-three queans in trouble and him but barely eighteen years old.
- 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 30:
Derived terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Scots[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- quine (Doric)
Etymology[edit]
From Old English cwene, from Proto-Germanic *kwenǭ (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
quean (plural queans)
- young woman, girl
- daughter
- maidservant
- female sweetheart
- (Shetland) A ram incapable of procreation, a hermaphrodite sheep.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːn
- Rhymes:English/iːn/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- Scottish English
- en:Children
- en:Female family members
- en:Female
- en:People
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns
- Shetland Scots
- sco:Children
- sco:Family
- sco:Female
- sco:People