different between quaint vs erratic
quaint
English
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) enPR: kw?nt, IPA(key): /kwe?nt/, [k?we??nt]
- Rhymes: -e?nt
Etymology 1
From Middle English queynte, quoynte, from Anglo-Norman cointe, queinte and Old French cointe (“pretty, clever, knowing”), from Latin cognitus, past participle of cogn?sc? (“I know”).
Adjective
quaint (comparative quainter, superlative quaintest)
- (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty. [13th-19th c.]
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 2:
- But you, my Lord, were glad to be imploy'd, / To shew how queint an Orator you are.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 2:
- (obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived. [14th-19th c.]
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX:
- describe races and games, / Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields, / Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds, / Bases and tinsel trappings [...].
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX:
- (now dialectal) Strange or odd; unusual. [from 14th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.4:
- Till that there entered on the other side / A straunger knight, from whence no man could reed, / In quyent disguise, full hard to be descride […].
- 1924, Time, 17 Nov 1924:
- What none would dispute though many smiled over was the good-humored, necessary, yet quaint omission of the writer's name from the whole consideration.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.4:
- (obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim. [15th-19th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.7:
- She, nothing quaint / Nor 'sdeignfull of so homely fashion, / Sith brought she was now to so hard constraint, / Sate downe upon the dusty ground anon [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.7:
- Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm. [from 18th c.]
- 1815, Jane Austen, Emma:
- I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me.
- 2011, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 31 Jan 2011:
- The rock is a haven for rare wildlife, a landscape where pretty hedgerows and quaint villages are bordered by a breathtaking, craggy coastline.
- 1815, Jane Austen, Emma:
Synonyms
- (overly discriminating): See also Thesaurus:fastidious
Derived terms
- quaintly
- quaintness
- quaintsome
Translations
Etymology 2
A variant of cunt (possibly as a pun).
Noun
quaint (plural quaints)
- (archaic) The vulva. [from 14th c.]
- c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale", Canterbury Tales:
- And trewely, as myne housbondes tolde me, / I hadde þe beste queynte þat myghte be.
- 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, p. 9:
- 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.’
- c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale", Canterbury Tales:
Anagrams
- quinta
Middle English
Adjective
quaint
- Alternative form of queynte
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erratic
English
Alternative forms
- erratick, erraticke, erratique (all obsolete)
Etymology
From Latin erraticus; compare Old French erratique.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /???æt?k/
- Rhymes: -æt?k
Adjective
erratic (comparative more erratic, superlative most erratic)
- unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
- Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.
- Deviating from normal opinions or actions; eccentric; odd.
- erratic conduct
Antonyms
- consistent
Derived terms
- erratical
- erratically
- erraticness
Translations
Noun
erratic (plural erratics)
- (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 372:
- The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic, but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 372:
- Anything that has erratic characteristics.
Synonyms
- (glaciers): dropstone
Translations
Anagrams
- Cartier, cartier, cirrate, rice rat
erratic From the web:
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