quean
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
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”), dialectal German Kan, Chan (“woman, wife”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Icelandic kona (“woman”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌽𐍉 (qinō, “woman”), 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”). More at queen.
Pronunciation
Noun
quean (plural queans)
- A woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute. [from 10th c.]
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, 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
Scots
Alternative forms
- quine (Doric)
Etymology
From Old English cwene, from Proto-Germanic *kwenǭ (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).
Pronunciation
Noun
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 inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- Scottish English
- en:Children
- en:Family
- 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