quaint
/kweɪnt/ adjective, noun
Forms quainter quaintest quaints
- adjective (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty.
- adjective (obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived.
- adjective (now dialectal) Strange or odd; unusual.
- adjective (obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim.
- adjective Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm.
- noun (obsolete or historical) The vulva.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English queynte, quoynte, from Anglo-Norman cointe, queinte and Old French cointe (“pretty, clever, knowing”), from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognōscō (“to know”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [Obs.]
- adjective 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.
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “quaint”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details