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quaint

KWAYNT/kweɪnt/

Formsquainter, quaintest

6 meanings of quaint

Practice

  1. 1
    charmingadjective
    Unusual in a pleasing way, especially through having an old-fashioned charm.

    The coast road winds past quaint fishing villages and steep green cliffs.

    His habit of tipping his hat to strangers struck her as quaint.

    UsageApproving of places, a quaint village, but about ideas it can sound condescending: a quaint notion.

    Similarcharming, picturesque, old-fashioned

    Note

    The one meaning still in general use keeps the unusualness of the “odd” sense and adds approval, usually for something that belongs to the past. In Jane Austen's Emma (1815), a character prefers “all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness” to modern ease. Places draw it too: the song “Old Cape Cod” (1957) applies it to the small villages dotting the Cape, and The Guardian in 2011 sets quaint villages beside a craggy coastline.

  2. 2
    strangeadjective
    Out of the ordinary in a way that seems strange or odd.

    He held the quaint view that letters should only ever be written in green ink.

    The new neighbor had the quaint habit of walking his cat on a leash every evening.

    Similarstrange, odd, peculiar, curious

    Oppositenormal, ordinary, usual

    Note

    Here the strangeness comes without any charm, and it can even unsettle: Walter Scott's Marmion (1808) calls a lord in his wizard's robe “a quaint and fearful sight.” As late as 1924, Time could call the omission of a writer's name “good-humored, necessary, yet quaint.”

  3. 3
    cleverly madeadjectiveobsolete
    Made or devised with skill and cleverness.
    Note

    The cleverness moves from people to things: what the crafty sense says of a schemer, this one says of a piece of work, and here it is praise. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) lists “impresses quaint”, ingeniously devised emblems, beside emblazoned shields and caparisoned steeds, with the adjective set after its noun. In older verse, a quaint device is a skillful one, and the compliment goes to its maker.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The historical senses distinguish a crafty person from something cleverly made. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, first published in 1667. gutenberg.org
    • The poem contains 'impresses quaint', with the adjective following its noun, beside shields, caparisons and steeds. gutenberg.org
    • An impress is a heraldic emblem or device. en.wiktionary.org
    • In this historical sense, quaint describes skilled or ingenious workmanship. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    adjectiveobsolete
    Too particular or needlessly careful about details, in a fussy or prim way.
    Note

    Fussiness with a touch of pride is the tone here, the scruple of someone too fine for plain things. Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) shows it by its absence: a lady “nothing quaint / Nor 'sdeignfull of so homely fashion” sits straight down on the dusty ground. The company it keeps is the clue in older verse. Beside disdainful, quaint means overnice, not odd and not charming.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books, including the quoted passage in Book III, were first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
    • The quoted words describe a lady's lack of fastidiousness; they are narration, not her spoken words. en.wiktionary.org
    • The lady promptly sits on the dusty ground. en.wikisource.org
    • Quaint here means fastidious or overnice, consistent with its pairing with disdainful. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 5
    craftyadjectiveobsolete
    Of a person, clever in a sly, scheming way.
    But you, my Lord, were glad to be imploy'd, / To shew how queint an Orator you are.
    1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”
    Note

    Knowing lies at the root of the word: Middle English queynte came through Old French cointe, “pretty, clever, knowing”, from Latin cognitus, “known”, and applied to a person that knowingness turned to craft. In Shakespeare's Second Part of Henry the Sixth (c. 1591), a lord is told he was glad “to shew how queint an Orator you are.” The use is obsolete. In older drama a quaint person is a schemer, not a charmingly old-fashioned one.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

    • Quaint derives from Middle English queynte through Old French cointe, meaning pretty, clever, knowing. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old French cointe derives from Latin cognitus. en.wiktionary.org
    • Latin cognitus means known. lrc.la.utexas.edu
    • The older personal sense connects intelligence with cunning or deception. en.wiktionary.org
    • 1591 is a composition date. An earlier version was first published in 1594 as The First Part of the Contention; the quoted wording belongs to the 1623 First Folio text. shakespearedocumented.folger.edu
    • The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's play; Suffolk addresses Salisbury. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • The personal sense cunning or crafty is obsolete and explains the reference to a schemer. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 6
    nounobsoletehistorical
    The vulva, the external genital organs of a female.
    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.’
    2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales
    Note

    The noun belongs to the past and turns up now in historical writing, where it may keep its Middle English spelling: Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) has Clarice place her hand “within her queynte.” Standing alone after a possessive, as in her queynte, it is the noun, since the adjective would need something to describe.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Practice

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Origin

Latin cognitus, the past participle of cognōscō ("I know"), became Old French cointe ("pretty, clever, knowing") and Anglo-Norman cointe or queinte. Middle English borrowed these as queynte or quoynte.