You searched for:
“quaint”
quaint
1. Having an old-fashioned attractiveness or charm; oddly picturesque: "They saw a quaint old house during their travels."
2. Strange, peculiar; or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way: "He was known to have a quaint sense of humor."
3. Unfamiliar or unusual in character; strange.
4. Skillfully or cleverly made; artful.
5. Obsolete: wise; skilled.
6. Etymology: from about 1225, "cunning, proud, ingenious", from Old French cointe, "pretty, clever, knowing"; from Latin cognitus, "known"; past participle of cognoscere "to get or to come to know well".
2. Strange, peculiar; or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way: "He was known to have a quaint sense of humor."
3. Unfamiliar or unusual in character; strange.
4. Skillfully or cleverly made; artful.
5. Obsolete: wise; skilled.
6. Etymology: from about 1225, "cunning, proud, ingenious", from Old French cointe, "pretty, clever, knowing"; from Latin cognitus, "known"; past participle of cognoscere "to get or to come to know well".
The sense of "old-fashioned but charming" is first attested to about 1795, and could describe the word itself, which had become rare after about 1700; although it soon recovered popularity in this secondary sense.
(Latin > Old French > Middle English: well known, skillful, neat, elegant)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“quaint”
quaint (KWAYNT) (adjective), more quaint, most quaint
Charming, pleasingly unusual, old fashioned: During their trip, Mike and Karen enjoyed a village's quaint customs.
© ALL rights are reserved.
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.
This entry is located in the following unit:
English Words in Action, Group Q
(page 1)