different between quaint vs irregular

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)

1. (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.

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 [...].

3. (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.

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 [...].

5. 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.

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)

1. (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.’

Anagrams

• quinta

Middle English

Adjective

quaint

1. Alternative form of queynte

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French irreguler, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin irr?gul?ris, from in- + regularis, equivalent to ir- +? regular.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?????j?l?/

Adjective

irregular (comparative more irregular, superlative most irregular)

1. nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations
2. (of a surface) rough
3. without symmetry, regularity, or uniformity
4. (geometry, of a polygon) not regular; having sides that are not equal or angles that are not equal
5. (geometry, of a polyhedron) whose faces are not all regular polygons (or are not equally inclined to each other)
6. (grammar, of a word) not following the regular or expected patterns of inflection in a given language

Synonyms

• (nonstandard): abnormal, singular; see also Thesaurus:strange
• (rough): coarse, salebrous; see also Thesaurus:rough
• (without uniformity): unstable, unsteady; see also Thesaurus:unsteady
• (not following the regular patterns of inflection): heteroclite

Antonyms

• regular

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

irregular (plural irregulars)

1. A soldier who is not a member of an official military force and who may not use regular army tactics.
2. One who does not regularly attend a venue.

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin irr?gul?ris.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /i.r?.?u?la/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /i.re.?u?la?/

Adjective

irregular (masculine and feminine plural irregulars)

1. irregular

   Antonym: regular

Derived terms

• irregularment

Related terms

• irregularitat

Further reading

• “irregular” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “irregular” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “irregular” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “irregular” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin irr?gul?ris.

Adjective

irregular m or f (plural irregulares)

1. irregular

   Antonym: regular

Related terms

• irregularidade

Further reading

• “irregular” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin irr?gul?ris.

Adjective

irregular m or f (plural irregulares, comparable)

1. irregular; nonstandard
2. (grammar) irregular (not following an inflectional paradigm)

Antonyms

• regular

Derived terms

• irregularmente

Related terms

• irregularidade

Further reading

• “irregular” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin irr?gul?ris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ire?u?la?/, [i.re.??u?la?]

Adjective

irregular (plural irregulares)

1. irregular, uneven, erratic, haphazard
2. patchy, spotty, jagged, ragged
3. fitful
4. (grammar) (of a verb etc.) irregular

   Antonym: regular

Derived terms

• verbo irregular

Related terms

• irregularidad
• regular

Further reading

• “irregular” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.