quaint
[kweynt]
- having an old-fashioned attractiveness or charm; oddly picturesque: a quaint old house.
- strange, peculiar, or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way: a quaint sense of humor.
- skillfully or cleverly made.
- Obsolete. wise; skilled.
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Origin of quaint
1175–1225; Middle English queinte < Old French, variant of cointe clever, pleasing ≪ Latin cognitus known (past participle of cognōscere; see cognition)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for quaint on Thesaurus.com1. antiquated, archaic. 2. curious, uncommon.
Antonyms
2. ordinary.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for quaint
Contemporary Examples
According to Adoflsson, the tradition is nothing more than good vs. evil, set in a quaint Swedish town.
Today, the quaint spectacle of a stage-managed fairy-tale celebration strikes many of us as a load of garbage.
Swarms of police, gunfire, panic—all foreign to a city known for its quaint, Commonwealth style, still air, and orderliness.
I followed and was soon sitting at a quaint table with chairs facing the lake.
When Gary Wright Met George Harrison: Dream Weaver, John and Yoko, and MoreGary Wright
September 29, 2014
Reed moved to Bhutan when Thimphu was a quaint town of 30,000.
Historical Examples
And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many have made collections.
English VillagesP. H. Ditchfield
It was of finer material than most of the "Egyptians," and the fashion was quaint and graceful.
The Green Satin GownLaura E. Richards
It is quaint and severe, however, and abounding in dry conceits.
Meg and Jan had tears in their eyes as they watched the quaint spectacle.
Jan and Her JobL. Allen Harker
The Owlet is twin to that quaint little bird, so its name flew to her and stayed.
Lotus BudsAmy Carmichael
quaint
- attractively unusual, esp in an old-fashioned stylea quaint village
- odd, peculiar, or inappropriatea quaint sense of duty
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Word Origin
C13 (in the sense: clever): from Old French cointe, from Latin cognitus known, from cognoscere to ascertain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for quaint
adj.
c.1200, cointe, "cunning, ingenious; proud," from Old French cointe "knowledgeable, well-informed; clever; arrogant, proud; elegant, gracious," from Latin cognitus "known, approved," past participle of cognoscere "get or come to know well" (see cognizance). Modern spelling is from early 14c.
Later in English, "elaborate, skillfully made" (c.1300); "strange and clever" (mid-14c.). Sense of "old-fashioned but charming" is first attested 1795, and could describe the word itself, which had become rare after c.1700 (though it soon recovered popularity in this secondary sense). Related: Quaintly; quaintness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper