different between quaint vs idiosyncratic
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
quaint From the web:
- what quaint means
- quaintrelle meaning
- what quaint means in spanish
- what is acquaintance mean
- what quaint means in portuguese
- quaint what is the word
- what does quaint mean
- what does quaint mean in english
idiosyncratic
English
Etymology
From idiosyncrasy +? -ic.
Adjective
idiosyncratic (comparative more idiosyncratic, superlative most idiosyncratic)
- Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.
- 1982, Michael Walsh, "Music: A Fresh Falstaff in Los Angeles," Time, 26 April:
- British Director Ronald Eyre kept the action crisp; he was correctly content to execute the composer's wishes, rather than impose a fashionably idiosyncratic view of his own.
- 1982, Michael Walsh, "Music: A Fresh Falstaff in Los Angeles," Time, 26 April:
Derived terms
- idiosyncratical
- idiosyncraticity
Related terms
- idiosyncrasy
Translations
Further reading
- idiosyncratic at OneLook Dictionary Search
idiosyncratic From the web:
- what idiosyncratic means
- what's idiosyncratic drug effect
- what's idiosyncratic speech
- what's idiosyncratic behavior
- what idiosyncratic art
- idiosyncratic what does it mean
- idiosyncratic what is the opposite
- what is idiosyncratic risk
Share
Tweet
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share
you may also like
- quaint vs idiosyncratic
- qualified vs superb
- reliable vs beneficial
- speak vs swear
- secondary vs unintentional
- tintinnabulate vs blare
- mien vs relation
- expansive vs stout
- narrative vs rumor
- command vs arraign
- wounded vs heartbroken
- formative vs primary
- brim vs boundary
- timid vs disturbed
- equatorial vs inflamed
- impulsive vs wavering
- monstrous vs flagitious
- rib vs twit
- dispart vs batter
- waken vs pique