quean

American  

[kween] / kwin /

noun

1. Archaic. an overly forward, impudent woman; shrew; hussy.

2. Archaic. a prostitute.

3. British Dialect. Sometimes quine a girl or young woman, especially a robust one.

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quean British  

/ kwiːn /

noun

1. archaic

   1. a boisterous, impudent, or disreputable woman

   2. a prostitute; whore

2. a young unmarried woman or girl

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Other Word Forms

• queanish
  adjective
• queanlike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of quean

First recorded before 1000; Middle English quene, Old English cwene; cognate with Middle Dutch quene, kone, Old Saxon, Old High German quena, Gothic qino, from unattested Germanic kwenōn-; akin to Old English cwēn “woman, queen” ( see queen)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

quean

For queen is the phonetic equivalent of AS. cwén, Goth. kwēns, whereas quean represents AS. cwĕne, Goth. kwĭno.

From A Concise Dictionary of Middle English From A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

Joseph was the only objector, and he appealed to Heathcliff against 'yon flaysome graceless quean, that's witched our lad wi' her bold een and her forrad ways.'

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 02 — Fiction by Arthur Mee

And this mad quean, after cracking like a pen-gun, and skirling like a pea-hen for the haill night, behoves just to hae hadden her tongue when her clavers might have dune some gude!

From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 by Sir Walter Scott

Ane wad think it's true," quoth Cuddie; "for I hae aye had some carline or quean or another to gar me gang their gate instead o' my ain.

From Old Mortality, Volume 2. by Sir Walter Scott

But the other night comes a Highland quean of a lass, and she flashes, God kens what, out at the eastmost window of Mrs. MacPhail's house, that's the superior tenement.

From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Sir Walter Scott

Related Words

• tramp
• whore