quoth

[ kwohth ]

/ kwoʊθ /

verb Archaic.

said (used with nouns, and with first- and third-person pronouns, and always placed before the subject): Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

Nearby words

Also quo.

Origin of quoth

1150–1200; preterit of quethe (otherwise obsolete), Middle English quethen, Old English cwethan to say. Cf. bequeath

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for quoth

That was a mistake, Wyatt, quoth Mr. Holiday; you should have collected his hair.
The Sunset Trail|Alfred Henry Lewis
"I have heard much even in the quiet cloisters of these new and dreadful engines," quoth Alleyne.
The White Company|Arthur Conan Doyle
“I hear a sound in the wind that is like a sound of piping,” quoth she.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI|Robert Louis Stevenson
"He is gone to his grandfather himself, I verily believe," quoth Hereward.
Hereward, The Last of the English|Charles Kingsley

"Move on, youngster," quoth a policeman at this moment, and thus put an end to my soliloquy.
Confessions Of Con Cregan|Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for quoth

quoth

/ (kwəʊθ) /

verb

archaic (used with all pronouns except thou and you, and with nouns) another word for said 1 (def. 2)

Word Origin for quoth

Old English cwæth, third person singular of cwethan to say; related to Old Frisian quetha to say, Old Saxon, Old High German quethan; see bequeath

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for quoth

quoth

Old English cwæð, third person singular past tense of cweðan "to say, speak; name, call; declare, proclaim" (Middle English quethan), from Proto-Germanic *kwithan (cf. Old Saxon quethan, Old Norse kveða, Old Frisian quetha, Old High German quedan, Gothic qiþan), from PIE root *gwet- "to say, speak" (see bequeath). Cf. also archaic quotha "said he" (1510s) for Old English cwæðe ge "think you?"