canty

[kan-tee, kahn-]

adjective

Chiefly Scot.

1. cheerful; lively.

canty

/ ˈkæntɪ, ˈkɑːn- /

adjective

1. dialect,  lively; brisk; in good spirits

Other Word Forms

• cantily adverb
• cantiness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of canty¹

1715–25; < Low German kantig lively; akin to cant ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of canty¹

C18: see _cant ³

Example Sentences

They were a very canty and contented couple, for they had enough to live on, and enough to do.

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A late moon was rising over the taps by Balmaclellan, and the thocht that I was out on the heather hills set a canty fire in my breast.

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I’m a plain, canty creature; godliness is cheerfulness, says I; give me my fiddle and a dram, and I wouldna hairm a flee.”

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The lowliest heart a pride displays, Unkent in our ain early days, Ilk kind and canty thing decays, Wi', How 's a' wi' ye.

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We may find a way of being useful to Meggy yet, and until then, as my mother says, 'let's be canty with thinking about it.'

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